


Stranded

by TheHeathenSlave



Category: David Bowie - Fandom
Genre: Airplane Crashes, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Sexual Situations, Beach Sex, Desert Island, Desert Island Fic, Dirty Talk, Drinking, Drug Use, F/M, Fetish, Fluff, Hair-pulling, Heavy Angst, Near Death, Nipple Licking, Oral Sex, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Serious Injuries, Sex, Sexual Tension, Survival, Vomiting, Voyeurism, Watersports
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-08 14:40:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10389066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHeathenSlave/pseuds/TheHeathenSlave
Summary: She never thought that a trans Atlantic flight could end in perfect paradise with David Bowie. Well...almost perfect paradise. Part One Complete. Part two will be written on a conditional basis. The condition that anyone wants a part two, that is, because I could easily write one.





	1. Crashed

**Author's Note:**

> Many of you know the original character used here in this fic. She's used with permission. Don't worry. David is supposed to be Hours Era just so you are aware (if it weren't obvious). First chapter is relatively tame but prepare for kinky sex, angst, and all that other happy stuff.

It was going to be a long flight and she was well aware of that. Even in business class, it didn’t seem like the most appealing thing in the universe. Oh well, it would just be a few hours right? If she took a sleeping pill and helped herself to the complimentary champagne service, she’d be out for most of the 10 hours that she was going to be forced to sit in one place. By the time the plane was about to take off she’d already had two glasses of champagne and a larger dose of ativan than usually advised (but she didn’t care since she was a doctor). Just as she drifted off she was sure she saw a familiar face smiling at her from just across the row. He was kind of fuzzy. Did she know him? Whatever, she’d bought two seats here just so she could stretch out and she was damn well going to make use of them.

* * *

Suddenly she was cold, wet, soaking wet. It was freezing. What the hell happened? She let out a loud scream, or rather tried to, it was quickly filled with water. Panicked, she flailed around a bit and started to swim. It was near the break of dawn, the sun just rising on the horizon and nothing but water as far as the eye could see. At least when it came to some sort of land mass. Otherwise all around her was debris. Some of it flaming. The plane? When had any of this even happened? How? Had she honestly slept through a plane crash? That wasn’t possible, right? Okay, maybe it was since she’d been completely trashed before the plane even got in the air.

She reached out and grabbed a piece of luggage floating by and used it to keep herself up. Her wrist just had to be broken, luckily it wasn’t on her dominant hand or she would have been fucked. There were bodies around. Bodies and body parts. Her stomach lurched but she managed to hold down the vomit. She didn’t know much about sharks or other predatory sea animals but she didn’t think it would be a great idea to vomit right now. Was anyone still alive? Someone had to be. Please let someone be alive. Using the luggage to keep herself above water she began to kick her legs to move herself away from some of the more intense flames. It wasn’t long before she came across a raft. It was floating there, in it’s tiny little contained package. With quite a bit of effort she managed to pull the cord. The thing was sturdy, actually let her small frame climb into it with only a it of energy expended. That was one problem solved.

“Hello?” She called, her voice weaker than she wanted it to be. She started to cough heavily and ended up vomiting anyway, right over the side of the raft. “Dammit.” She whispered and wiped her mouth with the back of her uninjured hand. She started to paddle as much as she could with her good arm. Anything that floated by she picked up and tossed into the raft. Since the thing was meant for about twelve people, she was going to have more than enough room to carry things with her. She doubted there were even twelve people alive. Not even three. She saw no movement other than the flames coming from the wreckage. Quickly she was losing hope that she was even going to make it out of this.

Each body she passed she was sure to give a good shake, but nothing. There was no response. Just as panic was starting to inch into her mind the raft shook violently causing her to scream. She looked over across the way, scrambling back a bit to try to keep the thing from tipping as another person climbed in. A man. His shaggy hair hanging in his face. He was clutching his side, there was something sticking out of it. Seemed he was struggling for breath. He collapsed on his back in the small space left where she hadn’t been stacking bags and other supplies that might become useful in the next few days. Once the shock had subsided, she scrambled over to him and looked down at his injury.

“I’m a doctor.” She said, “Let me help.”

“I’d say it was my lucky day but I was just in a plane crash.” He muttered and let out a grim chuckle. His accent was British and his voice was deep, two things she didn’t expect at all from this tall skinny man. But, she recognized him, the face that was smiling across the isle from her? She’d seen him before right? It didn’t matter, she had to help him first.

“Well…I suppose you could call this a streak of luck during a very unlucky day.” She laughed softly. “Hang on, I picked up a large first aid kit.” It was a huge one, attached to buoys, most likely just in case of a water landing or crash. She found it and opened it, pulling a flashlight and some other materials. It had been sealed so no water had actually gotten into it. Everything inside was dry, untouched. She turned on the flashlight and shone it over his injury. There was a piece of metal stuck in him and there was no way of telling how deep it was. She’d have to make a few educated guesses.

“Is it hard to breathe?” She asked.

“I would say so.” He laughed and then winced. She smiled at him gently and pushed some hair out of his face.

“Your eye its…”

“No that was…it’s been like that for a while it didn’t happen in the crash.” He said. “Just…take the metal out.”

“Okay okay but I mean…I need to make sure it’s not in your lung.”

“Could I talk if it were?” He replied. He did have a point, and it annoyed her because she was supposed to be the doctor here. The thing was, she wasn’t a clinical doctor. She was a forensic psychiatrist for the FBI. All she ever did was autopsies which meant working on already dead people. Though she had the qualifications to work on living people and the knowledge to save lives, it was definitely not something she did every day. Especially not after a plane crash.

“Right.” she said, “So can you take in a deep breath for me and let it out slowly?” She asked him. He nodded and did as she asked, wincing a bit but he was able to get in a full breath and let it out. There was no way that thing was too deep in there, or at least hitting anything vital if that were the case.

“Take it out?”

“Alright but if you bleed out…”

“I probably would have anyway, do you think help is really going to come any time soon? Even if you leave it in out of precaution? I’m consenting to the treatment pull the fucking thing out of me.” He growled. Her mouth was dry, and the taste in there was still bitter from the vomit. She just nodded and grabbed the metal, pulling it out. Thankfully, it really was only stuck in there about two inches. She quickly grabbed some gauze and unwrapped it before pressing it over the wound and holding it there tightly.

“You might need stitches but first we are going to hope the bleeding stops on its own, mostly because I haven’t got crap to stitch you up with. Might be able to find some super glue though.”

“Are you mad?”

“That’s originally what it was invented for.” She informed him, “Or you know, you could just die. Pretty sure you’d make very nice fish bait once I get desperate.”

“Very funny.” He muttered and then coughed.

“Hold this gauze there, my wrist is broken I need to find a way to splint it.” She said, grabbing one of his hands with her uninjured hand and putting it in place. “Apply as much pressure as you can without causing yourself too much pain, okay?”

“Yes yes.” He rolled his eyes and moved onto his back. “You didn’t recognize me before.”

“Don’t really recognize you now, to be honest, then again my mind isn’t in a place where I need to be freaking out at celebrities.” She muttered and started to go through more of the first aid supplies. There wasn’t anything in there she could use as a splint, she was going to have to improvise.

“So you at least admit to knowing I am a celebrity.” He asked. “Yet somehow you don’t recognize me.”

“Look…sir…”

“Sir? That’s a new one. I’m not old enough for you to be calling sir, ma’am.”

“Okay I am not old enough to be a ma’am I’m 38.” She snapped at him.

“So how exactly do you think I feel being called sir?”

“You are at least in your 50’s.”

“Doesn’t matter.” He said, “Look the point is I’m actually kind of glad you don’t know who I am. Saves me the trouble of having to deal with some kind of fan girl in this situation.”

“Oh?” She asked, “Well, you ever consider I might be famous as well?”

“Don’t recognize you.”

“Not famous in America. Not really. More it’s my family name that is. In any case, I’ve met a lot of celebrities each less impressive than the last. I hate to break it to you…guy…but you’re still a human being. You don’t shit chocolate ice cream because the whole world knows your name.”

Finally her hands settled on a ruler. Not sure why that was among the bags and debris. Maybe an architect or school teacher was traveling with it. No matter, it would work as a splint for now. The guy started to make some weird noise and at first she thought he was choking but then realized it was just a very weak and pained laugh. Ignoring him for the moment, she broke the ruler in half, which wasn’t easy, and used the combination of that and an ace bandage to tightly splint her wrist. No help from him either. He just lay there holding his side and laughing.

“Going to tell me what’s so funny now?” She asked, finally being able to rest back against the side of the raft and take a few deep breaths.

“If I had to get stranded, I’m glad it’s with the one person who isn’t impressed with what I do.” He said, “Maybe it is my lucky day. Wonder if the world will be convinced I’m dead. Now that, __that__ would be interesting.”

“Oh…?” She asked and looked at him, squinting her eyes a bit as the sun rose more and light became more useful. “David Bowie?”

“You guessed right. Only took you…lets see…you passed out right before the plane took off so five hours or so?” He asked, “Congratulations, thought I was going to have to tell you.”

“Okay I was passed out for…how long were we in the air?”

“About three hours. Think the engine exploded.”

“You mean one of the engines, there isn’t just one engine on a plane like that. Whatever. I was passed out for three of those hours so really it took me ten minutes, and 9 of those minutes consisted of pulling metal out of your side and splinting my wrist.”

“Fair point.” He said. “So, what do we do now?”

“Look for land and hope that maybe there’s some kind of radio or beacon that is going off that a rescue team can follow to find us.” She sighed and closed her eyes trying to ignore the agonizing pain in her wrist. “Just shut up and let me think for a moment.”

* * *

The moment was longer than she meant it to be. A lot longer. The next thing she knew she was waking up because David was pushing at her side with his foot. One of her eyes opened and she noticed the sun was high over head. They weren’t anywhere near the debris of the plane, they must have drifted. There wasn’t even luggage floating in the water, there was, however, much more luggage in the raft. A ton more. David must have grabbed some more before collapsing back in place. At least he’d thought to do that. They would need as much as they could get, especially food. Seemed to be quite a bit of that.

“What?” She muttered. God her mouth was dry. Her other eye opened and she looked around. In the large first aid kit she had grabbed and opened before passing out, there was a bottle of water. She grabbed it and without thinking too much, tried to twist open the top. Then she screamed in pain and dropped the thing.

“Hey hey, careful.” He said, and grabbed the bottle as it rolled towards him. He sat up, carefully, opened it, and held it towards her. “I see land.” She took the bottle and took a few small sips. It was tempting to gulp it down but she knew it would just make her sick if she did that.

“Where?” She asked. He pointed behind her and she turned. He wasn’t wrong. There was land there but it was very questionable if it was inhabited land. Well, civilized in-habitation. Most likely it was just some random island. It would still be better than staying in a boat. More food sources, possible fresh water. If not they could always boil some or…well it was better than what they had now. “Come on we have to try to paddle this raft towards it.”

“Are you serious?”

“Are you serious about not doing that?” She asked. He gave her a look and shifted onto his knees. Then he grabbed the bottle of water from her and took a few sips himself. While he did that, she looked around in the boat for anything that could work was somewhat of a paddle. Nothing. Damn. In desperation (and maybe a bit of stupidity, she jumped into the water and got behind the raft starting to push it as she swam in the right direction.

“You want help with that?” David asked.

“I wouldn’t advise jumping back into the water with that wound in your chest.” She called. “Did it stop bleeding?”

“Yes.”

“Good. You don’t want to risk opening it again just…navigate.” She told him.

“Alright.” He said.

This plan worked for a good while, somewhat. She was exhausted but her will to survive was overpowering her will to pass out and give up. By the time she was nearly completely out of energy they were almost to the island. It was only about a thousand yards away. David had to help her back into the raft where she collapsed again, her lungs burning and her body aching like she never thought possible before. He handed her the bottle of water then started to use his hands to paddle. Progress was slow but they were getting there. Hopefully the tide would eventually catch them and wash them onto shore instead of insisting on pushing them back out.

“T-Thank you.” She whispered.

“Thank you. I think we’d have been fucked if you didn’t do something that crazy.” He told her, shifting from one side of the raft to the other to make sure they didn’t go off course. “What was your name again?”

“Again? Did I even tell you before? Sorry, it’s Leila.” She whispered and took a few more sips of water. “Hopefully you have some idea about survival on a deserted island.”

“Really? You think that’s what David Bowie does with his time? Camping?”

“No but I guess I was hoping. I read something online about you reading every book you could ever get your hands on. The odds being what they are because of your age, one of them could have been about survival.” She said.

“Possibly, but it would also come down to how much I remember said book and I haven’t read one like that recently. What about you?” He asked.

“I’m an FBI agent.” She said, “Hunting and fishing are a hobby, hiking as well. Don’t really camp too much but I have a general idea how to survive in a situation such as this.”

“Well, we should be fine then. You do all the work and I’ll provide the entertainment.” He laughed. She smiled and pushed some hair out of her face. This was one of those times that she realized it was just too long. Down to her waist and in the way more than she needed it to be. This was what prompted her to go through the bags until she found a scrunchy to pull it into a ponytail. By that point, they were nearly there and the waves had caught them pushing them up towards the beach.

“When we get close enough, I’ll hop out and pull us the rest of the way. Don’t get out until we are on land, I don’t want that cut to open up.” She said.

“You’re bossy.” He smiled, “but, can’t complain much.”

“Better not.” She muttered and then snickered, not being able to help herself. Of all the places she never thought she’d end up, it was on an island after a plane crash alone and with David Bowie. Perhaps she’d been wrong about how unlucky this situation was. At least for herself. She could honestly use the time off. How bad could it really be?


	2. Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two find a tent which is good but David has to help reset and splint Leila's wrist which is bad. Then there's some awkward sexual banter when Leila has to answer a call of nature.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weird implied talk of interesting fetish things (watersports) so be warned.

When the raft was on the beach (of which she did most of the work, terrified that if she didn’t, David would open his cut even further) she fell onto the sand trying to catch her breath. David, of course, was well rested. To a point. At least more than she was. Her wrist throbbed with agony and she wanted to scream with the throbbing headache she had. Most likely it was from dehydration more than anything else. David was sitting next to her, picking seaweed out of her hair. The ridiculous long hair that she was thinking about cutting the moment she got energy. It was a nice thought but she also knew she’d never actually do that so instead she just lazily turned to look at him.

“Having fun?” She asked.

“Somewhat.” He said, “Your hair is very long.”

“Thanks?”

“Well it is nice. Well taken care of. How did you do it?”

“I guess I just didn’t cut it for…30 years.” She chuckled. It took another moment but then she was able to sit up and take in a deep breath. “Can you grab me one of the water bottles from the raft? I’m dehydrated.” He nodded and moved to the raft carefully. She could tell he was in pain but he wasn’t saying anything about it. It had to be bad. He still had what counted as a shirt on even if it was also basically ripped to shreds and barely covering him. Mostly, it was covering the wound so she couldn’t see how actually bad it was. She was going to need to get a look at it. He definitely was risking infection right now. She was too but far less than him. Maybe there was medication in some of the bags she grabbed. Painkillers, antibiotics, anything. People carried a lot of stuff with them to travel and they had a lot of luggage.

She took the bottle from him when he handed it off to her and drank from it. Still slow sips as she didn’t want to end up vomiting. That would just make things worse. David went back to the pile of stuff they’d gotten and started to sift through it. She watched him for a moment as she slowly drank. The sun was rising in the sky. Slowly, her freezing and shaking form was beginning to warm up. She wondered where they were, if they’d be found. Maybe, just maybe, they had lucked out and landed on some private island where people would be. It was possible, just not very probable. As soon as she was rested, she’d go to look. She was sure he was going to insist on joining her for that but she wasn’t sure how much she wanted him moving around.

“Find anything good?” She asked him.

“Not yet. Nothing is my color or style.” He grinned at her. She laughed and grabbed a bag to open.

“Well…I don’t know how much you want walk around here naked.”

“You have a problem with the human form?”

“Not even a little. I’m a doctor remember? However, need I explain sand in certain areas, not to mention insects, parasites, and possible things that could wiggled up your urethra?” He was wincing before she even finished that sentence. Possibly having gained and understand about what she was going to say when she started to use the word ‘wiggle’.

“Okay, point taken.” He said making a face, “Don’t say urethra like that again.”

“Like what?”

“You know what.” He insisted. She smiled and shook her head as she began to sift through the bag she had pulled onto her lap. It wasn’t easy with a broken wrist in a horrible splint that was now kind of falling apart because the bandage around it was soggy. She could hopefully direct David how to fix her up later. It wasn’t important in the moment. Mostly because she had just found what she was looking for.

“Jackpot.” She said, pulling out a bottle of pills. It was only half full but it was the best they had. At least for now. “Percocet. Find some food and you can have some.”

“I don’t think…”

“You are under supervision of a doctor, there’s not even enough here for you to get high, and trust me at most you’ll get sleepy and slightly buzzed. It has acetaminophen in it as well. You’ll want it.” She told him. He gave her a weird look, one that seemed to say he wanted to protest but wasn’t going to. Nor was he going to tell her that she was probably right. They stayed in silence for a long while as they sorted out things from each of the bags.

“Hey hey hey, look.” David said excitedly and completely out of the blue. She looked up at him from trying to figured out how they were going to open up some of the cans of food from the emergency survival kit she’d picked up from the plane. It had been part of the first aid kit. There were a few cans of food but no can opener. Other than that, she had found a few bottle of alcohol, some snack foods, some junk food, and a few candy bars. They may not have been healthy but they’d be helpful. It turned out that David was pointing to a tent. Kind of. It was a bag that held a tent. Next to it was a tackle box but there didn’t seem to be any fishing rods around. That wasn’t a huge deal. They only needed to get some strong sticks, perhaps. It would be hard to do in the ocean but maybe there’d be a stream around. They didn’t know yet. She got up and walked to him, handing the bottle of water over.

“Drink.” She told him. He muttered something that sounded like he was mocking her but started to drink from the bottle anyway. She unzipped the bag for the tent and looked inside. It would definitely take two of them to put this one up. It wasn’t small. While he rested she started to pull things out and move them far up the beach where there was more solid ground and she could actually anchor the stakes. It wasn’t long before he joined her.

“You’ll need help.”

“Yes but first of all, I’m going to need you to redo this splint.” She lifted up her arm. She’d be far less useless if her wrist was stabilized and she could work.

“Me?”

“It won’t be that hard and I’ll tell you how.” She said and started to unwrap it. Her movements gingered and slow as she winced trying to ignore the pain. He stared at her in horror and then audibly gagged when he saw how broken her wrist actually was. “Oh calm down…”

“The bone is…”

“I know.” She said, “But you are strong and can force it back into place.” She said then got up and went down to the beach. It took a bit but she managed to get a small bottle of whiskey open. After that she downed two of the percocet with the alcohol and started to binge on a bag of chips. It was the best way to keep everything down. He just stood there, watching, like she was some kind of lunatic. She headed back to him with the first aid kit in her hand and sat down.

“Are you sure I should…”

“Grab a strong branch.” She told him. “Come on, before I’m too trashed to explain this too you.” She continued to gobble down the chips until the large bag was gone. Her stomach wasn’t too happy but it was far more calm than if she had put no food in there. He came back with a thick branch and she directed the length he should snap it in two. Then she got an ace bandage from the first aid kit (she’d used gauze before).

“Uh…”

“Just shift it back into place. I’m going to scream.”

“I don’t doubt that.” He sighed and took her wrist gently. “You can’t get mad at me.”

“I’ll be more mad if you pussy out and don’t do this.”

“I’m going to blame that comment on the…various drugs you just took.” He said. She rolled her eyes and he put his hands over her feeling the bone. “On the count of three.”

“Okay.”

“One…two…” He didn’t wait for three, he did it just then and without warning. As promised she screamed bloody murder and kicked her foot into the stand. He very quickly wrapped up her wrist as she yelled at him to make sure he did it as tight as he possibly could and check her fingernails to make sure blood was still circulating. By that point she was laying on her back trying to control her breath so she wouldn’t vomit. “I fail to see how this is going to make you better with the tent construction.”

“Shut…up.” She muttered, “Just give me a moment…okay?”

“You aren’t going to…die, right?”

“Don’t be a moron.” She whispered and put a hand over her face. Everything was spinning and she knew she couldn’t throw up right now. It would be stupid and wasteful. It was possible to keep it all down. There wasn’t too much alcohol in there. Enough to take the pills and a shot more. Not nearly enough to poison her system. It was more the pills that were tumbling around in there. She needed about ten minutes for it to pass. David paced around nervously, she focused on the sounds of that and the ocean to calm her down. When she didn’t feel like she was going to puke any more she got to her feet.

“You…okay? I’m sorry I…”

“Don’t be sorry.” She said, “Really. It was going to hurt no matter who did it. I appreciate the help. We have to get this tent up. The sun is brutal and I assume the night will be freezing. We need to do this then some how start a fire. Okay? A normal one and a signal one.” He nodded still looking freaked out by all of this but they started to get to work on the tent.

* * *

It was not easy because she was mostly wasted and he had clearly never put a tent up in his life but about two hours later they had a two person tent up. It was nice. There were windows and even a divider for the different “rooms”. That was a start. Once that was done she laid down, for a very long time and passed out, more or less. She didn’t know what David went off to do and her dreams were incredibly weird thanks to the narcotics. When she finally came to, her mouth was bone dry and she was shivering. Also, she really had to pee. Fuck.

She made her way out of the tent to see David sitting near by. He had made a fire. Maybe she was wrong about her thoughts that he was useless, at least in way of survival. Not that it would be extremely hard to make a fire with the waterproof matches in the kit that they had but he knew how to build one. The tinder and fuel was all piled up exactly how it should be. Impressive. Part of her, though she admired him as an artist, also figured he wouldn’t have been able to tie his shoes by himself let alone start and maintain a fire. He was cooking some food over it. There was a stone heating on the coals and he had two of the cans open and heating up. They seemed to be soup. Chicken noodle if she had to guess. The labels had been washed off.

“Hey.” She said softly. “Sorry I um…”

“It’s understandable.” He said and picked up a bottle of water to hold out to her. He winced as he turned and she frowned but took the bottle with her good hand. Her other hand was noticeably swollen at that point but only due to the injury. The bandage was tight but still not cutting off circulation. He’d been perfect at that too. She took a few sips of water and then set the bottle down next to him in the sand.

“Have to pee.” She said, “I’ll be…” She looked down at her jeans and sighed, “Can you um…help?”

“What?”

“Look I can’t reasonably get my pants open or even down with this injury I know it’s weird but it’s either that or piss myself.” She told him. He looked her over and then nodded.

“Lets not get too far from the food or fire though.”

“Fine, not sure I can walk that far.” She said.

It was really awkward having to ask for this level of help but it was her best option, honestly. They were only going to have each other for a while, they’d have to help each other. They walked to a more grassy and brush covered area and he stepped up close to her, his hands moving to undo her pants and pulled them down for her, along with her panties.

“Usually when I’m doing this it’s not to help a woman take a piss.”

“Yeah, I figured.” She laughed nervously. Carefully she squatted down, luckily the drugs in her system made her feel a bit less self-concision about this. “You wanna watch? I mean if you are into that…”

“Maybe I am…” He grinned wickedly, “But I guess you’ll never know because I am not going to watch…this time.” He turned and then took a few steps away. Her face got hot and she blushed, she knew that’s all it could possibly be at that point. None of that really should have aroused her. Not really because she found the fetish gross, she totally could get into the whole voyeurism thing, but because this situation was so fucked and there was no reason to get horny. Plus, that was a shitty excuse for a pickup line or even some odd attempt at seduction. She watched him as she peed, which felt so amazing in that moment. When she finished she stood up carefully and somewhat pulled her panties back up, her jeans were more difficult.

“Um…”

“Need help?” He asked then turned.

“Don’t look so happy about it you…weirdo.” She said but couldn’t help but smile at this whole thing. He was very attractive and god, that voice. He sauntered back over to her and helped her with her jeans standing close and looking down into her eyes as he fastened them for her. He leaned in, getting very close like he was going to kiss her but didn’t.

“Weird is my middle name, well, one of them. If you get me drunk enough, I might tell you my others.” He whispered before stepping back and heading for the campsite. She just stood there staring at him somewhat blankly before hurrying after him. She was starving and for far more than just dinner, even if that was part of it.


	3. Wounded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two have a meal together, go through things, and figure out what items they have and don't have. Leila makes plans for exploration in the morning, and checks David's wounds.

When they got back to the camp, Leila sat down near the fire. The sun had passed high noon in the sky and had started to descend. She was very much hoping that it wouldn’t get freezing there at night but there wasn’t much way to tell until they spent the night there. David moved the cans of soup from the stone where he’d had them set to heat up. They were quickly placed into the sand to cool a bit. The rock was pushed off the coals at that point and he stoked the fire up more, glancing over at her. In the morning she planned to explore as much as she could. Find food sources, fresh water, and see if by any miracle there was going to be some other human on there. Friendly of course. The problem was if they were all the way out here then they probably weren’t the kind to want guests around.

“Thanks for everything.” She said, touching the sides of the can gently to see if it had cooled enough that she could pick it up and sip at the broth inside.

“No, thank you.” David said.

“What exactly have I done that I need to be thanked for?” She asked with a bit of a chuckle. All she’d really done was pull the metal out of him (which he could have done himself) and passed out a lot. Especially after making him shift her bone back into place. He’d made a fire, helped with the tent, and some how never once muttered any sort of complaint about how his side hurt. Which she was sure it did he just wasn’t saying it.

“I think you’ve done more for me than you have realized.” He said, “A lot of it has to do with anxiety…long story.” She gave him a look and decided not to ask. It probably wasn’t her business. However, maybe he was bringing it up because he wanted her to know and wanted to talk about it. If he had anxiety he could have ended up with a worse person than a psychiatrist.

“I can probably understand, now. I’m a psychiatrist.”

“You said you were an FBI agent.” He said, “And a doctor…now a psychiatrist?”

“You are aware that I can be all three of those things at once right?” She asked with a smirk. The can had cooled enough so she picked it up. After rotating it a bit to find an edge that wasn’t sharp she took a sip of the liquid inside. She honestly hadn’t tasted anything this good in a very long time. Desperation could make a gourmet meal out of just about anything.

“Yes,” He said and picked up his can as well, “Usually people go with one specialty and, there they stay.”

“Except you who has had how many stage personas by now?”

“You get my point.”

“Sorry…” She laughed, “I’m not upset. I know that people usually don’t take this into consideration.”

“So you aren’t a clinical doctor then, are you? Or even a psychiatrist. You must be forensic, which means the most you do on a daily basis is autopsies.” He pointed out.

“Correct. You’re very knowledgeable about this.”

“I read a lot.”

“It shows.” She said and drank more of the soup. “So maybe all I do is cut up dead bodies, it doesn’t mean I lack the medical skill of a practicing doctor. Autopsies get you very intimate with human anatomy just on a dead person. I still had to get the same life saving training and do the same rotations as any other doctor you’ll meet.”

“Considering my options were being stuck here with someone who didn’t go to medical school, I won’t complain too much.” He said, “Just…try not to think of me as a cadaver before I am one.”

“Yeah, same.” She smirked. He smiled back at her and then got more relaxed in the sand to consume his soup. Rest would do both of them good. Recharge them. Tomorrow they could sort out the items they had found more. Some of it would need to be buried before bed, to ensue that if there were animals around they couldn’t get to the food. It was easy to do that in sand since a hole could be dug deeply and with relatively little effort. All they needed to do was jam it into a suitcase and shove it down in there until tomorrow.

* * *

When she had finished her soup, she got up and moved to the rest of the stuff. It was all still in the raft. She grabbed the side of it and pulled, dragging it up towards the tent. David joined her a moment later to help, and it was a great help. She cautioned him to be careful of the wound on his side, though. If she had to literally stitch it shut that would risk far more infection than the superglue method he’d used before. She did pretty badly want a chance to clean it out properly but opening again also definitely meant infection. A bad one. He’d probably get an infection now, but it would be mild. Should be. It wasn’t something she wanted to mention to him. Hopefully she’d go through all of the pills and find some antibiotics. She’d already found narcotics. It was more likely that someone was traveling with penicillin than narcotics so she felt her odds were good.

“What are we doing now?” He asked.

“We need to separate the food. Anything that has a scent or could possibly draw animals this way.” She said. “The rest of the things we can move into the tent and keep there. The last thing we want is to attract wild bears here or something.”

“Bears? On a tropical island?”

“Okay whatever then, giant birds.”

“You really don’t know much about island wildlife, do you? This isn’t Australia.” He laughed and started to go through the supplies they had. She glared at him and then smiled as she looked away. Tropical islands and the animals that lived on them was definitely not one of her ares of expertise but she didn’t think her logic was flawed despite her being correct (or incorrect) about what type of animal might come snooping around their camp.

“I know enough. At least enough to stay safe in the areas where I usually camp. When I go to a tropical island it’s usually a vacation not…this.” She said. She found a small suitcase to empty out so they could pack up some of the food. They had found some beef jerky, which would be pretty essential when it came to protein in the next few days unless they could find a way to replace it. She wouldn’t know until tomorrow. They also put the potato chips in there, someone had packed a whole bunch of weird Asian flavors only really found in Japan. They were sealed in their bags but Leila was still worried the scent could attract animals even if it was very mild.

The other things were less fragrant. Some cans of food were left over from the emergency rations off of the plane. There were still a few bottles of left and some bottles of alcohol. Really good stuff that was being transported back. Including an incredibly expensive bottle of sake. There were chocolates, cookies, and a few candy bars. That was about it. A place like this would definitely had some kind of fruit, even if it was just coconuts. The bigger problem would be figuring out how to get up the palm trees to collect them. Also opening them. A big rock may do the trick. This could work reasonably well until they were found. If they were found. No, that wasn’t the way to think. Not only was she with David Bowie, but being an heiress there would be a whole fleet after her. Rika wasn’t the type of friend to give up a search until there was a body found (alive or dead) and she had plenty of money at her disposal. It really was a matter of when they’d be rescued. Not if.

Once things were taken care of to her liking, they added a bit more fuel to the fire. That would also help keep animals away. It was only a few feet from the outside of the tent. They didn’t exactly have blankets but they did have a ton of clothes. The few blankets they did have were still soaking wet, despite them being hung over an impromptu line to dry in the sun. Who knew that airplane blankets could hold that much liquid? Maybe they needed to move them more towards the heat of the fire. They still had a bit of time until the sun was completely set, they could dry in that period. Leila folded up some of the warmer clothes she could find, and piled them into a bed shape. She did this for David as well. A large down coat was all they really would have in way of a blanket and a lot of other clothes had to be set out to dry as well.

When it came to finding other medications they came out fairly well. Another bottle of narcotics, half a bottle of amoxicillin, a bottle of nyquil, some claritin, a few different bottles of ibuprofen, and then a very tightly sealed baggy of pot. Whoever had packed that had risked some serious problems boarding a plane with it. However, she knew from the dank smell the moment she’d opened it that it couldn’t be anything other than marijuana. It had been a long time since she’d smoked any pot but it may be a better idea for a painkiller than continuing to down narcotics. At least there was a pipe also packed in that bag. Along with drug paraphernalia magazines, bumper stickers, and a bunch of hippie style clothing. Like this guy had walked right out of 1977. She’d even found an Aladdin Sane shirt but had decided not to mention it to David in the chance that it would put him in a sour mood.

“So,” She said once he was laying on his ‘bed’ in the tent. “I’m going to need to check your side and make sure it’s clean, at least as clean as it can be given the situation.”

“And if it’s not?”

“Well, there are a few options, including opening the wound again. We have fishing wire and hooks that could be used to stitch--”

“Don’t finish that sentence please.” He said, wincing heavily at the thought.

“I know that it’s not great, David but, like it or not you’re already risking infection. I want you to take the antibiotics I found.” She said, grabbing the bottle for him. He took it and looked at her.

“You’re sure this is…okay?”

“I know what the medication is and what it does. It’s only half a course but it’s better than nothing. Unless you have a severe allergy to amoxicillin I wouldn’t worry.” She said. He nodded and opened the bottle then dumped one pill out into his palm. “Drink a lot of water with it.”

“You need water too.” He said and took the pill anyway.

“True but we may find other sources of it on this island. If not, we can rinse out those soup cans and boil it. If we can find a fresh source. If not…I’ll have to see if I can remember the weird process of making ocean water drinkable. I think you can filter it through sand or something then boil it after that.” She sighed and grabbed the emergency flashlight from the first aid kit. Getting closer to him she turned it on. The little window in the tent let in light but not nearly enough to inspect a wound. “Now, hold still.”

“This is going to hurt, isn’t it?”

“It’s not going to feel nice.” She said, “You want some codeine to help with it?”

“Yeah that would be…a…good idea.” He said laying more on his side. She got out two pills of the T3 and handed them over then one of the packets of cookies they found.

“You’ll want to eat with that.” She said.

“Two? Leila, I don’t really--”

“You are trying so hard to pretend you aren’t in pain, and if you want to keep doing that, fine, but I know you are from how you tense, gasp, sigh, and move around. If you want to be able to sleep, two is what you need. One will help but it’s really just going to relax you and you need rest if you are going to fight this.” She explained. He nodded and took the pills, opening the packet of cookies to eat them, propping himself up so he could do that while she looked at his wound.

She moved the shirt back and shone the light on him. As suspected, there were already signs of infection. Swelling, bruising, and a bit of puss there. The good news was that the seal was holding up, the superglue that was in the kit had come in handy for that, but it had also managed to seal in any sort of dirt, debris, or rust that would have been left in there that couldn’t be cleaned out before he could seal it. Had she not passed out like she had, she’d have done it for him but she hadn’t gotten that opportunity. She resisted the urge to touch the area. It was tempting, because she wanted to feel if the redness was actually swelling or if it was trapped fluid. If it got any worse she was going to have to start draining the area and that was going to not only be painful, but incredibly gross.

“The good news is, the seal is holding up.” She said, “There is some signs of infection but the antibiotics should help keep it at bay for a bit. I want you to take six within the next 48 hours then 2 every 24 hours after that until you run out.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to space them out and conserve?”

“Not really.” She said, “The faster we get the into your system the faster they will work. Normally you’d be on 4 a day, not three, but I also have to consider how many we have. Antibiotics do keep working even after you finished the course, for about two weeks. So even when you are done they should keep flowing through your system. Your stomach isn’t going to be very happy with this you know.”

“Oh I’m well aware.” He said. He got comfortable again and closed his eyes. She grabbed the large down coat and draped it over him.

“Just try to get some rest, I’ll be outside if you need me, I’m going to try to dry those blankets better and maybe dry out a book or magazine to read.” She said. “I’ll be back in here around the time the sun has completely set as we really don’t have that much light to work with and I want to keep the flashlight for emergencies. That or having to go use the bathroom in the middle of the night.”

“You’re quite the angel you know, even if you are a bit anal retentive.”

“Thanks, I think.” She said and stroked some of his hair back softly. “Call if you need anything, okay?”

“Of course.” He said and closed his eyes. She moved out of the tent and zipped it up. From the outside she opened the other two windows so that a nice breeze could pass through the tent and make sure the temperature stayed tolerable. It already wasn’t too bad in there but she needed him to stay comfortable so she wouldn’t move around a lot and risk tearing open his side. Once that was done, she got to work attempting to dry the blankets. She dreaded the first night there but at least she wasn’t going to spend it alone.


	4. Joined

Leila had finished drying out the blankets. It took a long time. Luckily, airplane blankets were never huge to begin with, nor were they thick. There were also only six of them. It took a lot of finesse. She had to stand there holding them above the fire enough that the heat was actually doing something but far enough away that the fibers didn’t singe or burn, or catch on fire. It was a delicate balancing act but at least it passed the time. There wasn’t much to do here other than survive. As much time as that did take up, it was also boring when their lives weren’t in direct danger. It was getting too late to go out and safely explore. She was also exhausted and she would never make it back before the sun set. May end up passing out in the forest or jungle or whatever one wanted to call it. So, here she stood, drying out blankets.

“What’s your favorite song?” David called from inside of the tent. By her estimation about an hour had passed. She didn’t think her watch was working right any longer even if she was still wearing it for some reason. She looked at the tent.

“My favorite song or my favorite song by you?” She called back and then chuckled. She didn’t know if he was going to sing for her or just making conversation so she wasn’t sure what he was asking for or why.

“Doesn’t matter I suppose, I run equal chance forgetting my own lyrics as much as I do some other song.” He replied. There was some rustling in the tent and then the front of it unzipped and he poked his head out. A moment later he was out there sitting in the sand by the fire still trying to pretend that his side didn’t hurt.

“You probably won’t like any of my answers.” She told him, “And I don’t know all the lyrics to all of your songs either just my favorites so if you did mess up I could either correct you or I wouldn’t know.”

“Get on with it then.”

“Well I don’t really have an all time favorite song. Kind of have a favorite song of the current moment then it changes, you know?” She asked. Since the tent was open now she tossed in the dried blankets so she wouldn’t risk them getting all sandy. Then she sat down by him. She opened the suitcase that had all the little bottle of booze in them and took one out.

“Makes sense, I’d get bored of the same music over and over myself.”

“You don’t say.” She chuckled and opened the bottle.

“Very funny, why are you stalling?”

“Okay because my all time favorite musician isn’t you it’s Bon Jovi.” She told him and took a long drink. He laughed loudly and then whined as it hurt his side. “Serves you right.”

“Calm down you just don’t look like the type.”

“Type?”

“Fat chick from New Jersey.” He said. It was her turn to laugh then. They really so seem to love Bon Jovi in Jersey but maybe it was because he was from and lived there. She looked at him and then sighed. “So I suppose you would say one of his songs is a current favorite.”

“No.” She smiled.

“You are a very tricky one you know.”

“My favorite song in the moment is Pretty Things Are Going To Hell, which I guess is fitting for the situation we are in.” She said. This seemed to get his attention. He brushed some of his hair out of his face and looked at her closely. “What?”

“That’s from my latest album.”

“And?”

“Usually when I ask people what their favorite songs are well for one, they instantly assume I mean one of my songs which you didn’t. Then I don’t know usually it’s something like Ziggy Stardust or Starman or Heroes…nothing past 1980. Usually. Sometimes I get that but…my newest album. That barely debuted. It’s been out about a month.”

“I like it.” She said, “So…is this a problem? Should I burn it and go back to Ziggy?”

“No, God no.” He said putting a hand on her arm. “I’d prefer you listened to anything new I’ve been doing over that.”

“I’ve been listening to everything new you put out since I first realized who you were, however, I’m not a…well fanatic. Not really for anyone.”

“Except Bon Jovi?”

“That’s like the one exception okay? So sue me.” She laughed and finished the small bottle of vodka that she had opened. He moved in a bit closer and put his arm around her the tow of them looking out to the ocean and over the horizon as the sun started to set. He picked a few more dead things out of her hair and flicked them aside. She leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder. They were silent for a long moment but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. It was very peaceful, like they’d know each other for years. She enjoyed it after all that had happened that day. It was a calming moment.

“What to do, what to say, what to wear on a sunny day…” Her eyes shift towards him, was he really singing for her? Not that she was going to complain but that was so nice, cute even. She liked it. “Who to phone who to fight who to dance with on a Sunday night…”

“Reaching the very edge you know, reaching the very edge, going to the other side this time…” She sang softly. He pulled back and looked at her. “Sorry it’s your song.”

“Well it should be sung by you, your voice is beautiful.”

“Did you get hit on the head during that crash too?”

“I’m not lying.” He laughed, “But yes I also took a few knocks to the head.”

“Well there that’s why you don’t think you are lying.” She laughed loudly. He gave her a playful shove and he shoved her back. She shoved him again and he shoved her but the forced was a bit too much and this caused him to topple over and on top of her. She cried out and looked up at him as he lay there. He shifted to put more weight on his arm but he didn’t get up completely. She leaned in and kissed him softly. He kissed back for a moment. There was a pause as they looked at each other. She smiled and he pulled her into a far more hungry and passionate kiss. She kissed him back with equal passion, her hands carefully moving over his chest and the scraps of fabric he was still trying to pretend was a shirt. After a moment he rolled over and pulled her on top of him. She broke the kiss and straddled his lap.

“You’re good with that mouth in several ways.”

“Sex on the beach isn’t nearly as fun or comfortable as it looks in the movies.” She said.

“That means you’ve done it before.”

“Attempted it, then I made her move inside with me.”

“Her? Really?” He asked, “I want all of the details, right now.” She tilted her head back and laughed loudly then got to her feet. Still standing above him she struggled for a moment and got her shirt off so she was in her bra. Tossing it aside she headed for the tent.

“We doing this or what?” He didn’t answer. There was a but of a scrambled as he tried to stand in the sand which didn’t work so he crawled after her like a hungry little puppy. She snickered and brushed off as much sand as she could before going into the tent. She’d been keeping as clean as humanly possible. There was soap and other things in the bags, luckily, but she had yet to give herself a great scrub down. Something she intended to do in the morning. She tried to lean in an discretely smell her armpit.

“You smell fine I’m sure I smell worse, ignore it.” He said pulling off his rag of a shirt. She looked at him her face got hot as she began to blush but it was dark enough in there that he wouldn’t be able to see it.

“You could smell like a pile of trash and I’d still fuck you because you’re David Bowie.”

“As flattering as that is, it also kind of ruins the mood. I’m not Bowie here, I’m David Robert Jones. Or Mr. Jones…Master…Daddy…” His voice greatly deepened when he said daddy and it made her giggle like an idiot as she pulled her bra off and tossed it aside. He scrambled to get one of the flashlights then he turned it on and hung it above them in the tent. “Damn…”

“Oh calm down.” She said and shoved him back onto the pile of clothes they were pretending were a bed now.

“Professor is fine too.”

“You’re just as kinky as the internet says aren’t you?”

“Way more than that, darling.” He pulled her into him placing a mouth over one of her nipples and starting to suck on it firmly, teasing her with his tongue at the same time. She moaned and clasped her hands over the back of his head, getting comfortable in his lap and pushing him in closer. She pulled him more on top of her and arched her back up.

“If you want my pants off you have to do it.” She whispered. He looked up at her and slowly pulled his mouth back.

“And this is supposed to be a problem?” He asked and smirked. He sat up straddling her and unzipped her pants, pulling them down with her panties. He moved in again starting to kiss at her thighs, his hands running over them as well. She moaned and wiggled under him gently. He pushed his face into her cunt next and she gasped. She wasn’t expecting that, especially not after all the hard labor she’d done that day. Her good hand went to his hair and tugged on it.

“David…”

“Oh please, you think I didn’t do worse in the 70s?” He asked looking up at her. She giggled and closed her eyes allowing him to continue. There was no hesitation and he was very into it. Nuzzling his face in, his nose bumping against her clit as his tongue darted out licking her wet folds. He moaned, growling a bit almost as if he were some sort of possessive animal. She loved it. Right when she thought she was about to cum he pulled back, licking his lips.

“HEY!”

“Shhh.” He whispered and started to work his pants off. He got about half way through that then got frustrated and just pounced on her, thrusting his cock into her roughly and starting to move his hips. She moaned loudly, pulling her legs back so he could get into her as deep as possible. He really was like an animal as he plowed into her. Everything she’d ever assumed about all of his hip movements on stage came true here but even more so. It was better than she ever thought possible. Her eyes rolled back and she reached out, scratching over his back.

“Oh God…” She panted and moaned again. He leaned in, pressing his face into her neck, thrusting feverishly like he couldn’t even control it any longer. She wrapped her legs around his waist and locked on tightly. One hand in his hair, the wrapped and splinted hand trying to dig her nails into his skin as he nipped at hers. His mouth covered hers for another kiss, muffling her loud moans before dipping down to her chest, sucking on the tit that he had missed before.

“DAVID!” She screamed, she was so close but he seemed to know how to go fast and slow, keeping her right there. She had a feeling he wasn’t going to let her cum until he did and though she wanted to complain it was such an intense build up. Like nothing she had ever felt. This man clearly knew what the hell he was doing. When he finally allowed her to release he wasn’t very far after her. His body reacting to the spasms of her cunt around his cock. He let out one of the most beautiful and melodic sounds of pleasure she’d ever heard. Unfortunately her vision was somewhat blurred by that point and she couldn’t see his face clearly. She briefly hoped that she’d some how get another chance to see it before collapsing and dozing off. That had been the perfecting ending to one of the most hard days of her entire life. Totally worth it.


	5. Sheltered

When she woke up, she was still naked so it wasn’t an issue to get out of the tent and go pee. She didn’t go as far from the tent as she actually could because she figured David was asleep, or he wouldn’t care. She didn’t know. After that, she grabbed some soap and shampoo from the supply they had found and went to the water. It was warmer than she expected it to be for that early time of day. Refreshing too. It probably wasn’t the best idea to use soap in the ocean, considering the chemicals, but she wasn’t going to walk around dirty and smelly all day. It took a while to wash her hair since it was so long but she felt so much better after doing it. Coming out of the water she saw David. The hand with the wrap had also been covered with a plastic bag she’d found to keep it from getting wet. Mostly. It was damp around the edges but it wouldn’t fall apart and it wouldn’t need to be wrapped again. He was naked too, didn’t seem he cared much about it. She certainly wasn’t going to complain. He had a very nice body.

“Morning.” She said to him and pulled the bag off of her arm. “Should I try to find some sort of breakfast before heading out to explore?” She asked him.

“Sounds good.” He said and took the soap from her.

“Be careful of your side…wait…” She stopped him and leaned in to look at it. The swelling wasn’t getting any better. “You will take those antibiotics right? I mean when we eat? They may upset your stomach and-”

“I’ve been on plenty of antibiotics in my life I know how this works. I’ll be fine.” He said then kissed the side of her head. She gave him a look but walked back onto the beach. After drying off a bit, she found some cleaner clothes that had dried and would somewhat fit her and pulled them on. She didn’t mind staying naked but they didn’t find sunscreen in any of the bags. There was some bug spray, which who knew if that would work on the freaky tropical insects here but it was worth a try. The clothing would protect most of her from the sun and the bugs. Especially if she was going to go in the area with the most habitation. She wasn’t sure how she was going to convince him to stay there. He needed to rest with that gash in his side. Walking around and risking hurting himself further would not be a good idea.

Once she was covered up she found a brush. She brushed out her hair and braided it, using a rubber band to keep it together at the bottom. It was the best she could do since her clip had fallen apart on her and there seemed to be a lot of ordinary rubber bands hanging around in their stuff. They weren’t hairties but as long as she used them while her hair was still damp nothing was going to get caught or too damaged. She found another can of soup but that was it. There were a few containers of instant noodles that hadn’t been ruined but that would require fresh water having been boiled. Because of this she got out some packs of beef jerky. They could share the soup and that, it would give them energy and at least help him heal a bit.

He didn’t take nearly as long as her to get clean and was back just as she was trying to figure out how to get the can open with a knife. Something she would have been fine doing should she have two hands. She looked at him pathetically and he smiled then took the can and the knife and opened it for her. She put it on the rock that she was heating and held out the jerky too. Which he opened and took out a piece. He started to look through the clothes as he chewed and she watched him. He still hadn’t said anything about his side hurting even though she could tell with his limited movement he had to be in a lot of pain. She went to the narcotics stash and got out one of them. She also got two of the antibiotics as she had prescribed and brought them over to him just as he was pulling on a T-shirt. The Aladdin Sane one she had found but not told him about.

“Uh…”

“I know what’s on it, I wanted to fuck with you.” He said, “Does it look good?” She laughed and nodded her head.

“Yes but you look better now than you did then. No offense.”

“None taken because I agree.” He took the pills and swallowed them one by one then pulled on some shorts. They absolutely did not match the shirt because they were neon pink. Only David Bowie would be able to find the weirdest stuff to wear on a deserted island.

“You are an interesting man.” She said.

“What?” He asked and sat by the fire.

“Those are…not shorts for a man.” She told him and sat down too. She checked the soup. It was warm enough so she quickly moved it to the sand so the can could cool to a point where they could touch it and it could be consumed.

“And?”

“I just thought that part of your life was over.” She shrugged.

“I don’t give a damn they are comfortable.” He said, “You’re wearing a shirt for a man you just…tied it to cover your tits.”

“Okay I get your point.”

“Good.” He grinned and looked back into the brush covered area. “So for the record you didn’t care that I saw you take a piss this morning.” She blushed and looked away from him.

“You implied you were into that yesterday.”

“Maybe I am.” He said still being cryptic about it. Part of her, the psychiatrist part which dealt with sexual behavior (since she worked in sex crimes) understood the psychology of the voyeurism fetish. She’d never exactly seen the appeal in her own brain, until now. Something about the way he spoke, maybe how casual he was, she didn’t know. She tested the can again and it had cooled off. Luckily the metal wasn’t thick so it didn’t take long to heat nor did it take long to cool.

“Maybe I want to watch you next time.” She said finally.

“Hell you can hold my cock for me.” He laughed.

“You think I’m your slave?” She laughed back.

“You would be if I asked you to.” He purred in a seductive voice. She looked down again and said nothing taking a sip of her soup. He was right about that and it pissed her off as much as it excited her.

“Well, let me be your slave and go exploring in those woods for you.” She said, “You stay here and rest.”

“But I-”

“I also know what antibiotics do to your stomach and…well, do you want me around for that?” She asked him.

“Everyone poops you know.”

“Not everyone wants to be around for it.” She said and handed over the soup.

“I guess that’s true…never saw the appeal in watching that myself, but I know it’s a thing. Right?”

“Why are you asking me?” She laughed.

“You seem to know a lot of things. What branch of the FBI do you work in anyway?”

“Uh…”

“Come on now, you’ll talk to me about everything else but not that? Is it classified? The X-Files? Something like…oh you know that Twin Peaks show?” He asked and took a few mouthfuls of the soup. She sighed, of course she didn’t want to tell him now, it was embarrassing now. Maybe earlier it wouldn’t have been. She drew some circles in the sand for a moment and looked back at him.

“Sex crimes.”

“Oh really?”

“Look it’s not nearly as sexy as you think it is.” She warned.

“No that’s not what I was thinking. Of course the actual crime aspect has got to be horrid. I can’t even imagine how you still get horny, however you said you are a psychiatrist and then you tell me you work in sex crimes, which means that any kink I could possibly have isn’t going to shock you, is it?” He asked. She felt her face flush and she tried to blame it on the sun, not on the fact she was getting aroused by him. Most men never reached that conclusion. In fact, a lot of men she dated only wanted to hear about the crime part because they found it interesting, like some sort of TV show. The other people she dated well they just couldn’t look at her the same after they found out because all they could think of was the crime part. It was rare for her to meet anyone who didn’t care or, well, thought like he did. In fact, she was pretty sure he was the first person, man or woman, to instantly draw that conclusion over these bits of information.

“No you really couldn’t shock me. Even if I’m not into something--”

“That’s why you are so casual about the whole voyeurism piss play thing isn’t it?”He asked, “You aren’t even into it, or at least you didn’t think you were. Not until now, but you were okay with it because you understand the psychology behind it, don’t you?”

“That’s true, yes.”

“You aren’t opposed to it either, are you?”

“I guess not, there are worse thing that--”

“I think you are going to learn a lot about yourself on this island.” He grinned and held the soup back out to her. She took it and drank a few more gulps then held it back out to him and stood up. She found a bag to pack with some water, a few snacks, and a small first aid kit. She was also going to pack some of the fishing gear just in case she found a fresh water place to fish. If not, then she would attempt to do it in the ocean but that was going to be much harder.

“I think you are going to be surprised about what I already know and what I am into and you may learn a lot about me.” She said as she packed. He watched her and she could tell he was mostly looking at her ass when she bent over. The jeans she had chosen were a bit too tight but they still fit fine enough to walk around in. All she had in way of shoes that would fit her comfortable were some sandals she found so she was going to have to be very careful about walking around out there.

“I think I can read you pretty well so far, or would I be wrong to say that?”

“No, you wouldn’t.” She said, “Maybe you should have been a profiler.”

“Maybe you should have been a singer.”

“You hit your head remember?”

“Yes but I’m David Bowie I could convince people that hitting a cat with a violin was music.” He laughed and finished the soup. She laughed a bit too hard at that, because it hit her in just the right way. He wasn’t even wrong that’s why it was so funny and it was something she could see him doing, sort of. Not actually beating a real cat but putting together sounds and other things that mimicked that effect and writing a song to it. “What?”

“It’s funny because it’s relatively true.” She said, “Now, I’m going to head off and you are only allowed to come look for me if I am not back by sunset. Okay?”

“Fine, mum.”

“Good.” She said. Once the stuff was gathered she headed off, she was going to miss him not coming along but what was best for him now was rest. Hopefully, within a few days, there would be some sort of search team and that would be the end of that. She was getting just a bit nervous that he was going to get sepsis before they could be found and she wouldn’t be able to ever treat that even with the half of a bottle of antibiotics that she had.

* * *

She walked for what she calculated was about a mile and going north according to the sun. The last thing she wanted to do was get lost. Every few yards she would make a mark on a tree with the knife she had brought to help find her way back if just going south completely failed. About an hour into this hike she definitely heard running water. It had to be a waterfall. This renewed her energy a bit and she hurried towards it, still remembering to mark her way as she did. She wasn’t disappointed when she eventually came to a clearing and saw a large waterfall. Running water. Well, moving water. It was going to be fresh too. Something that could be collected and boiled and she wouldn’t have to remember how to do the whole thing with boiling saltwater to consume it.

She rushed over to the pond area and saw fish in the water which was far more clear than she had expected it to be. This was good too, it meant it was more clean. Not that they could or should drink it as it was but after boiling it wouldn’t taste gritty or like soil. She sat by the side of the pond and splashed some of the water on her face. It was damn hot out there, she hoped David was okay where he was without her. She smiled and moved more towards the cliff where there was shade and leaned up against it to rest. Her eyes closed. She heard chimes. Just for a moment. Her eyes opened. That wasn’t right, was it?

Her hand moved to her forehead to see if she could possibly have a fever, any signs of heat stroke that would also cause her to hallucinate. No, didn’t seem to be the case. The noise had stopped though. She started to relax again but there was a breeze. There were the chimes. Those were wind chimes if she ever damn heard them. Nothing in nature made that noise. Not unless it was put there by man. She stood up but the breeze had stopped. Damn. She waited, and waited, the breeze blew again. She heard them and moved towards the noise.

This was a very long process. It took her a few more hours. Every few yards still marking trees because now she wasn’t going in a straight line, now she was trying to find the source of the noise. It was maddening. As it turned out, she was eventually led to the remains of a stone path. It was very worn and mostly covered with vines and plant life but as she followed it, it got more and more obviously a path and less and less part of the jungle. When she actually found the source of the noise it was bittersweet. The house was run down enough that it was obvious there was no human there. At least not living. There was a possibility she’d find a body in there, which made it good that she had found it alone. The house also seemed self sustaining. As in, it had to have been built because whoever wanted it out there wanted to have privacy. There were wind generators, though vines had grown over them so badly that they weren’t doing much to generate a damn thing. She moved and cut them away quickly hoping to get them going to build up power because she could see light bulbs, the problem was that it didn’t mean they worked. However, there were electronics in the bags with chargers, some of them would surely still work if they could get power to them. Maybe a phone or something to actually call for help. Once she had done that, she headed inside.

“Hello?” She called. Which was kind of stupid, but on the off chance there was a person in there she didn’t want to startle them or get shot or something. The place was in a bit of disarray. A layer of dust covered everything and if it wasn’t that, it was moss. Not too bad though. It was mostly clean. She checked every room, not that there were many, and found no sign of life anywhere. Nothing that indicated that anyone had been there in a decade or two, including the stuff in the kitchen. She went through a bunch of the cans left there, potentially some of it could be good, but it would be risky. The expiration dates were all from the 80’s and that was over 20 years ago now. Well, so what? There was a pond not too far with fish and something resembling running water. She’d have to check and see if the wind generators might power a pipe system or something. It wasn’t working now, but there were faucets in there, a bathroom, a shower and a tub and even a toilet, which thankfully was mostly clean and not backed up with shit or whatever.

The ‘backyard’ though over grown was also clear. There was a grill back there. Rusted. Could possibly be cleaned. God, this was going to save their lives for the time period that they had to be there. The one bedroom had a large bed and was stable it could support weight. She just wasn’t entirely sure she was okay with using a mattress that had been used by lord only knew who and had god only knew what on it. Whatever she could figure that out later. She started to quickly head back towards the beach camp so she could inform David. It wasn’t too far back, now that she actually knew where it was. They could have all of their stuff moved out there by sunset and stop to pick some fruits on the way. Maybe it wasn’t going to be so bad there after all, as long as David could power his way through that infection if help didn’t arrive in time.


	6. Sloshed

It was no small feat getting everything back to the house she’d found. There was nothing either of them was willing to leave other than a large signal fire and some clothing. It was stuff that didn’t really fit and it was neon colored. It would attract the attention of a search party if one did come to the island. Let them know that there were living people there. Though it was tempting to stay on the beach so they wouldn’t miss getting help, the better idea was to be in a shelter where they were more protected from the elements. Even possibly had some sort of power. If the small wind generators ended up doing anything, they could even have the ceiling fans in there running.

By the time all the items were moved, the sun was low in the sky, about to set. Leila was once again, exhausted. It hadn’t been fun only being able to use one arm to really carry or drag things back, but it was worth it. David had his issues too because of his side and she was taking more of the burden because she felt that his wound was more likely to get irritated or reopen. Her wrist was going to be broken either way and there wasn’t any sign of infection or terrible problems with her other than the pain. If his side opened up again it was going to be a mess.

Once that was all taken care of, they used blankets to make a mattress cover. Leila inspected the actual mattress the best she could. There weren’t any stains, and there had been a plastic lining over the actual mattress for whatever reason. She didn’t know who had built this place or why they would do that but it at least meant there was almost no chance of something having soaked into the mattress that could be bio-hazardous to them as long as they removed the outer cover and put a new one down. When that was done she made David lay there and very slowly headed out to attempt to get something in the way of dinner.

She was so tired, time seemed to have slowed to a crawl. Everything was taking too long, her stomach was growling and seemed like it was attempting to devour itself. She caught two medium sized fish in the pond after finding some large insects to use as bait. They were close to being what she would call grubs but seemed too pointy to actually be grubs. Close enough, because it got her dinner. When she got back she made a fire in the fireplace and used some of the cookware (that looked pretty much untouched) to cook it. Despite the lack of seasoning, it was still the best damn thing she’d ever eaten. David seemed to not mind it either.

It was odd, that this house would be so fully stocked with a lot of things that seemed unused except for the moss or dust. She started to wonder if maybe someone with money had purchased the place, build it, stocked it, and either never lived here or only used this place on occasion. It wasn’t an impossible idea. Her parents had a lot of weird real estate endeavors that they had put a lot of money into and then never saw the end of. Maybe someone had intended to make this place a private island resort at some point. A hunting reserve. A place for a hotel. Maybe the house had just been the start. It got her to thinking that there may be more places on this island. Other supply spots. It was eerie but it was what they needed most at the moment so she wasn’t complaining. Since everything was so outdated, the most recent technology looking like it may have been from the 70’s, she wasn’t worried there were people there who were going to come back and look for the stuff. Even if there were, at least it meant a better chance of getting out of there than no one being around.

“You know, I’m thinking there might be other supply areas on this island.” She said to him as she handed him a candy bar. They were each going to have one for desert.

“Really?” He asked, “What led you to that conclusion?” He took his pills, including the narcotics and laid back on the bed. She still didn’t have the power going but it was something that she was going to check out before it got too dark.

“Well, most of the stuff here is unused or used very sparingly. Even the grill out back is just rusted. There’s no sign of burning or coal or that anyone ever used it. It was like everything was brought here, maybe someone visited a few times, and then the place was abandoned.” She said.

“So what you are saying is there are monsters or cannibals on this island and we shouldn’t be here?” He asked. His voice was completely serious but she could see from the look in his eyes he was messing around and just wanting to freak her out a bit.

“Well that too, but I thought that was just a given.” She played along with him. If anything like that were here and for this long, people would have known. Especially some form of government. The US seemed the most likely to go poking around on a cannibal island (or a monster one) it wouldn’t have stayed under the radar for long. If someone tried to build her and found that out then it would have been even more newsworthy than just someone stumbling onto the island and vanishing. At least with the existence of this house, it meant people knew this island was here. That was the best news in all of it. “I’m going to go check the generators to see if I can get anything working in here, okay?”

“Fine but if you get bitten by some sort of creature and are about to turn into that creature I’m allowed to cut your head off.” He said, finishing his candy bar and laying back on the bed more.

“Of course, I wouldn’t want to live like that anyway. Make it quick, though, don’t want a situation where my head is half hanging off and I’m still alive.” She teased him, “Same goes for you.”

“Deal.” He laughed and closed his eyes. She did like that they both had the ability to keep some sense of humor about them in a situation like this. It would be maddening to sit around with a person (or people) who were scared out of their minds and refused to do much of anything. The house was weird, but nothing about it was creepy. She had been in creepy places before too. Nothing supernatural but places where there had been human sex trafficking, tortures, murders. It was hard to explain but those places always had a stench of death, no matter how well they’d been cleaned. A weird, thicker air. A presence that pushed on your chest a bit. This place didn’t feel like that.

* * *

It took a while, and a lot of cursing, plus an emergency flashlight to figure everything out. Once she had, she was able to switch on power and a pump system for the plumbing. The water was clear…kind of. She did not think it was okay to drink but it would be okay to bathe in or shower in as long as neither of them drank it. There was no way for her to check any sort of water heating system yet, so she didn’t know if they’d have hot water, but they did have a flushing toilet even if it was the lowest flowing piece of shit system in the entire world. It was still something. Of course none of the original light bulbs that were hooked up worked, but she found a supply closet with replacements that did. The fan in their room came on and so did the lights that went with it. The windows were open in there as well, letting in a nice breeze. That had been hard to do because one of them was rusted shut but she wasn’t going to let the glass break. It was still holding up pretty well even if some of it had warped or discolored in certain areas.

“I think I might have to marry you after this,” David said when she finally laid down next to him after all that work. “If you get a TV in here working I’ll have to have your children.”

“Don’t you mean I’d have your children?” She snickered, almost completely asleep once her head rested down and her eyes shut.

“Well I mean…I’d stay at home and take care of them I suppose.” He laughed and put a hand over hers giving it a small squeeze.

“I’m sure I could get the TV to turn on, but we aren’t going to get a broadcast of anything out here. Your only hope is that the VHS tapes aren’t too warped and the VCR is actually working as well.” She yawned, “That’s something you or I can figure out tomorrow. If it keeps you in bed I’d rather fix it myself. You need…rest.”

“You need some too.”

“Not as much as you.” She whispered.

“Just sleep already.” He purred in her ear. She smiled and drifted off. It was nice to get back to some small sense of normality even if they were also in a house that seemed more like a time capsule than a resort.

* * *

The next morning she woke to not only the smell of food but the sound of music. Well, kind of music. It had to be on a record player and the records were very warped but it could have been worse. Her eyes opened and she realized David wasn’t in there. She rubbed her face and headed to the bathroom. She hadn’t told him not to drink any of the water and she was very much spurred into action trying to find him at that point. He was in the kitchen. Eggs and beef jerky on a plate for her. Where had he gotten the eggs? There was also an assortment of fresh fruit and somehow he’d gotten the stove to work. It was electrical so that wasn’t too surprising. He was in the middle of boiling water.

“Oh thank God, I thought you drank the water I forgot to tell you--”

“You think I trust pipes that were put here in the 50s? Maybe even earlier? God no.” He laughed, “Made you breakfast of some sort. Sorry, it’s not the best and I’m not even that great of a cook.”

“It smells really good.” She said and sat down to eat, “Where did you get the eggs?”

“Went for a walk, found a few unguarded bird’s nests. Didn’t think I’d want to even attempt fishing so there you go. Picked the fruit too. All of it’s safe to eat because all of it’s recognizable. Stayed away from berries or weird colored things.” He wasn’t wrong. He’d found bananas and some small oranges. There were limes sitting out as well but that wasn’t exactly something you could eat plain. May come in handy, though. Vitamin C and all.

“There’s a trick about berries that can help you find edible ones but it would also depend on finding bats and tracking them.” She said.

“What?”

“Bats will lead you to fruit that is also edible for humans. Birds will lead you to nasty poisonous shit that you should stay away from.” She said, “A lot of islands like this have some form of bat so it may not be that hard but I haven’t seen anything like that yet.”

“You know a lot about this stuff for someone who claims she’s only been camping a few times.” He said and then carefully grabbed a few potholders. He lifted the pot and carried it out of there. She watched him until he went into the bathroom and came back with an empty pot.

“What are you doing?”

“Making you a nice hot bath because you deserve it.”

“What? Really? Isn’t this the ass-backwards and hardest way to do that?” She asked him.

“Yes, but it doesn’t seem we are going to have running hot water. Even if we did it wouldn’t be clean and I don’t want you to risk it.” He said, “You are the one thing standing between me and certain death so it’s only right that I worship the hell out of you right now.”

“Don’t discredit yourself that much, David. You are very smart too. Just….wounded.” She said and started to eat. “All of this is just stuff I remembered from books I read or trial and error, you are doing the same. We are a team.”

“You’re the team leader then.” He grinned and put more water on to boil. She laughed and shook her head as she ate breakfast. After repeating the boiling water thing three more times she was finished with her food. She got up to try to help him but as it turned out he’d been working on that longer than she expected and the bath was ready by that point. It was also still very hot, but not too hot to actually bathe in. When she saw this she pulled him into a kiss.

“You are amazing.”

“I know.” He said and patted her head. He left and came back with a bag of all the bathroom products they had found. The first day they had done a lot of sorting to keep things organized. “Here.”

“Maybe you should join me.” She smiled and started to strip down. She would save washing her hair for another time. She ended up putting it in a bun to make sure it didn’t get wet and would just stay in the braid it was already in.

“Are you sure?”

“We are both dirty and a hot bath would be nice. I might also be able to clean that cut a bit more.” She told him.

“That doesn’t sound anywhere near as sexy as I’d hoped.”

“I’ll make it sexy then.” She grinned. She got out some soap for them, a nice bar of it and then a container of antibacterial stuff that would actually disinfect what it could. Once she was naked she got into the tub and relaxed back. It wasn’t huge but neither were they and it could definitely fit two people if they compromised on space. He watched her and ended up stripping as well before getting in. They shifted until she was laying on top of him. His chin just over her shoulder as she rested back and he wrapped his arms around her. The music on the warped record player still playing for them. About 30 seconds passed.

“It’s it sexy bath time yet?” He whispered. She laughed and opened her eyes.

“No, but it’s probably sexy wound check time.” She replied, “The sexy bath time comes after that.”

“I fail to see how you can make checking my wound sexy, it’s gross, Leila. I’ve seen it.” He sighed and then moved a bit so she could get better access. She shifted and grabbed the antibacterial soap. After washing her hands off she started to poke and prod at the wound while he whimpered and hissed in pain, jerking almost every time she touched it.

“Sorry.” She said.

“Unless it’s somehow your fault the plane crashed I wouldn’t apologize because it’s not your fault this happened.”

“It is my fault I’m causing you pain, though.”

“Which wouldn’t be necessary had the plane not crashed.”

“Okay okay, I get your point.” She said. “I’m going to need to drain it, you know. Not right here and now but in a bit. There are pockets of fluid build up.” She said and looked him in the eye.

“And you do know HOW to do that right? You aren’t working on a cadaver you know.”

“Yes.” She laughed and punched him playfully in the chest.

“Alright if that’s the case let me mentally prepare for it before you do it.” He said.

“How so?” She asked and grabbed the bar of soap starting to wash him clean gently.

“Meditation, deep breathing, booze, and pills.” He told her his eyes closing and his body relaxing under the touch of her gentle fingers.

“All of that stuff actually will help. You know meditation?” She asked.

“Sure, been doing it for years. There are medical benefits you know.” He said like she wouldn’t believe it since she was a doctor.

“Yes, I know.” She smiled, “Psychologically and physically. Can lower your temperature, blood pressure, heart rate…help with stress and anxiety. I do it too. I probably just don’t have much time to do it as you.”

“You’d be surprised.” He muttered as her hands moved down to his cock. “Going to wash that too now? Be gentle with my little Bowie.”

“It’s anything but little, even when you aren’t erect.” She laughed, “But I’ll be careful regardless, don’t have any of my battery powered toys here anyway.”

“Any? That denotes you have more than one.”

“And you are surprised because?” She smiled and wrapped her hand around the length of him. “Thought we went over the whole part about me being a princess by day and slut by night.”

“Perhaps.” He said, “However I thought more like FBI agent by day, innocent school girl who just reads a lot about sex by night.”

“Oh, the whole virginal and inexperienced thing.” She said, “Well I can certainly pretend if that makes it sexy.”

“It would, for now, I mean if you really want to help me feel less pain.” He opened one eye to look at her. She smiled and shook her head.

“Alright alright.” She said, “You are the first guy I’ve been with in like 10 years so I was practically a virgin anyway.”

“I do like that.” He groaned as her hand worked on his cock a bit faster, he was growing harder and harder with her touch. The soap made everything in there smell incredibly inviting, clean. It was far easier to relax in here than out by the ocean.

“Not even going to ask why?”

“That’s not sexy right now, is it? I can probably guess why.” He panted.

“Point taken we can discuss it later, or never.” Her hand moved to the tip of his cock and she started to massage and manipulate his foreskin a bit. It wasn’t often she got to be with a guy who had a foreskin but she definitely knew how to work them. Her teenage and near young adult years had kept her in Japan where she’d first figured out how to fool around. It was almost unheard of there for circumcision. It really depended on what area you were in but you were more likely to find a guy who wasn’t than was. It never really bothered her. In fact, the first time she saw a cut one (in real life) she kind of didn’t know what to do with it. Mark hadn’t been circumcised either but she quickly pushed that thought out of her head. “You like that.”

“Fuck yes…” He whispered his eyes still closed his breath hitching in his chest. “Going to be a good girl and let Daddy cum?”

“Of course Daddy.” She cooed and then giggled her hand going back to stroking the full length of him. He moaned the loudest yet at that comment. He really seemed to like the Daddy stuff. She looked at him and then took a deep breath ducking under water to take his cock into her mouth and suck for a long moment before coming up for air.

“How’s that?” She panted.

“Oh God keep….keep that up as much as you can for Daddy…” He whispered, his hips wiggling under her, thrusting up a bit. She waited for her breath to even out before ducking under again and working on him being able to go longer that time. His hand rested on her head but it wasn’t locking her in place or pushing her down. She still enjoyed the danger of the idea. She was back up almost a minute later, panting and coughing a bit.

“Not sure I can….keep that up….Daddy.” She whispered and then coughed again. He opened his eyes and placed his hand on her face pulling her into a ravenous kiss.

“Don’t worry about it, Princess…” He whispered against her lips. Suddenly, he grabbed her and moved her over his cock shoving her down onto it. She moaned as loud as she could, which wasn’t loud at all because she was still breathless. Using the sides of the tub as a grip she started to move up and down on him as he laid back, looking up at her.

“Thought you…wanted the innocent virgin girl…”

“Changed my mind…now…I…I want the slut.” He smiled and shifted so he could take a nipple into his mouth to suck. She hugged him close to her and moaned as she worked her hips. His moans were muffled into her tit as they both worked, using the buoyancy of the water to moved them more fluidly. It was amazing. Her good hand gripped his hair tightly as she orgasmed, clawing at it a bit, the water splashing over the sides of the tub a bit as he joined her in climax. She collapsed on top of him after that holding him tightly and trying to catch her breath. A little whine escaped her lips as she felt his cock slip out of her and she pressed her face into his neck.

“Thank…you.” She whispered and kissed at the skin that was directly under her lips.

“Mmmm thank you, Princess.” He whispered back and then held her close. She couldn’t imagine any place on earth she’d rather be than where she was in the moment.


	7. Panicked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not the last chapter it's more like an intermission or something I don't know. But it's not over yet so just take that as you will. Chapter gets SUPER Angsty so just be warned but it ends on a high note so everyone won't be bummed out.

After allowing herself to rest a bit she got out of the tub and looked around for one of the beach towels they had dried out and brought in there. She wrapped herself in it and looked in the broken mirror over the sink for the first time in days, seeing her reflection. That’s how she looked? This was what he was attracted to? She had a huge bruise on the side of her face. She’d known she’d hit her head and it hurt, but she had no idea. He’d said nothing? It wasn’t anything dangerous, just a bruise but damn. She looked back at him and he was smiling.

“You look fine.”

“How did you--”

“Shh…I’m David Bowie.”

“Well, I’m going to accept that answer this time.” She said, “Come on get out, I’m going to get you stoned so that I can drain that wound.” One of his eyes opened then another and he slowly got out of the tub. She handed him a towel and he started to dry off not at all trying to cover himself. Not that there was anything wrong with that. He walked out of there yawning loudly and drying his hair so she could watch his ass.

“Coming?”

“You’re a tease you know.” She called and followed after him after reaching into the tub to unplug it and make sure it was draining fine. HE poked his head back in the door and smiled at her.

“How did you not know? Some fan you are.”

“Told you, I like Bon Jovi more.” She teased him.

“Well good for Bon Jovi.” He made a face then walked off but she could hear him laughing. She smiled and went to grab the first aid stuff. She got him a strong cocktail of alcohol and two of the percocet they had left. Then she came into the bedroom where he had laid down again and held it out to him. “You won’t tell anyone about this, right?”

“Look if you were in the hospital I’d have to give you something, it’s going to hurt.” She said, “So just think of this as medication.” He eyed her for a moment then took the pill and downed the alcohol quickly.

“Dear god that was not tasty.”

“I know.” She said and started to peel an orange. She sectioned it and then held out a slice to him which he quickly ate to clear the taste out of his mouth. “Give it about fifteen minutes to all kick in and I’ll start I don’t want to get slapped trying to work on you.”

“I’d never.” He said.

“Oh yes you would.” She laughed, “And I wouldn’t blame you, I’m pretty much hoping to immobilize you so I can work. Moving around also wouldn’t be a great idea in these conditions, and it’s going to smell. Bad.”

“Goody.” He muttered and closed his eyes, taking in some deep breaths and exhaling. She could tell with how they were timed he was trying to get into a meditative state, which was good. All of this was good. It would keep him calm and still. She wasn’t going to let him hurt himself more. There was already a huge chance of greater infection by draining him but if she didn’t he had a greater chance of sepsis and he’d only survive a day or two if it got that bad. He was skinny, they had basically no food, this would at least buy them time. How much, she didn’t know.

* * *

She left him alone to do his meditation stuff for fifteen minutes while she prepared. She had nothing that was completely sterile. She used fire and antibacterial soap and did what she could but it wasn’t going to be perfect. There were a few syringes in the first aid kit, for whatever reason, and there were two epi pens. If he went into shock, at least she had those. She paced, wishing she had a cigarette to smoke while she waited. When enough time had passed she washed her hands as best she could in purified water and came back into the room. She set a metal bucket down by the bed in case he puked which he very well may.

“I’m going to start.” She whispered, he gave a small nod but he looked pretty much incapacitate by the drug cocktail she’d given. “Try to stay still, easier said than done I know.”

She knelt down by the bed and slipped a towel under him gently. She grabbed one of the clean syringes and poked it into one of the fluid pockets. He took in a quick breath and let it out slowly. She started to pull back on the plunger slowly. God there was a lot of puss. The smell wasn’t awful because of how it was being removed but there was a bit of one. She looked at him and filled the syringe. Then she emptied it in a seperate container, trying to breathe only through her mouth. He made a face.

“Sorry.” She whispered and continued.

There was a lot of it, it seemed like forever until she’d actually gotten to a point where she was only removing blood. The smell in there was nearly overpowering. She had gotten at least a pint of that stuff out of him. She grabbed the spare container she had been using and the rest of the stuff to get it out of there as fast as possible and away from the house. When she got back she washed her hands again and hurried to his side to clean him up, bandage him. She got half way through when he abruptly sat up. She grabbed the metal bucket she’d brought in there and held it for him as he puked.

“Ow…” He muttered when he had finished.

“Sorry.” she said again.

“Not your fault you…doing….the best…” Then he stopped talking.

“David…” She said and looked over at him. Fuck. He’d gone into shock. She grabbed one of the epi pens and quickly jammed it into his thigh and released the trigger. The effects were almost instant. He took in a loud gasping breath and sat up, grabbing at his chest.

“FUCK!” he yelled, “Did you just fucking inject me with coke?”

“No…no David it’s epinephrine so, similar but it’s fine you would have died otherwise.” She said, “Trust me…just…deep breaths. The effects will wear off in about 15 minutes okay? Then you’ll pass out and sleep for a while.” He looked at her he was terrified. She hadn’t even considered that the medication would be very similar to coke. He grabbed her arm like he was clinging to her for dear life.

“I haven’t felt like this in…decades I don’t like it.”

“I know you don’t you have to let it pass.” She said calmly and quickly cleaned his side, getting a bandage on there the best she could. She got on the bed with him.

“What gave you the right?” He demanded angrily.

“You were going to die I couldn’t let that happen.”

“Well maybe I’d rather-”

“Die?”

“YES!” He yelled at her and then hit her roughly in the face. Hard enough that it made her ears ring, to be fair he had hit her in the bruised side of her face. “I didn’t consent to this.”

“David…” She whispered holding her face, trying to recover and make her vision clear.

“Don’t.” He warned her and headed out of there, still naked. She squeezed her eyes shut and took in a few deep, slow breaths. There was a lot of crashing noises and slamming doors then silence.

“Fuck.” She breathed he was coked up by all accounts and they were in the middle of nowhere, he had an infection and from the very short period of time she touched his skin she also knew he had a fever. Her vision wouldn’t clear and her head wouldn’t stop spinning she couldn’t go after him right away. “FUCKING IDIOT!” She screamed at the top of her lungs but she didn’t know if she meant herself or him. All she could do was wait there and recover. Either he’d come back or she’d have to go out looking for him. In the dead of night.

* * *

When her head finally cleared enough that she could actually get on her feet she did and she headed out trying to look for him. She didn’t have to look far. It seemed that he’d made it to the waterfall and had collapsed there. She ran to his side and took his vitals. He was out of it but not completely out. Exhausted and feverish was more like it. They wouldn’t have too much time before he was going to go into full septic shock. She pulled him into her arms and held him close, fighting back her tears and taking deep breaths.

“I hit you.” he muttered.

“It’s fine.”

“No it’s not.”

“David please, I’m not upset with you I promise.” She whispered. “You need to get up, can you get up?” She asked him. He gave it a try but he couldn’t and she was of no use trying to help him walk. The waterfall wasn’t far from the house she told him she’d be right back and ran back to their bedroom. She grabbed some blankets and clothes for him and ran right back to where he was. Out of breath she dropped down by him and got him dressed. He was shivering by that point. She wrapped him in a blanket and then herself and held him close, getting comfortable.

“You don’t….need to stay out with me tonight. I don’t deserve-”

“Shut up.” She whispered, “You deserve the world and I can’t give it to you.”

“Is that what you really think?” He asked, she didn’t know it but he was looking up at her at that point with such a look of admiration. It would have broken her heart had she seen it but she had her eyes closed as she tried not to shed tears that he could see. They were squeezed shut so tight it was hurting her head. All she could do was nod.

“Yes.” She said, “The world can lose me but they can’t lose you.”

“Leila-”

“Shhh just…

“Thank you.” He whispered. She bit her lip and started to rock him, humming softly wanting this to all just be over. It would be fine if he hadn’t gotten himself to a point where he was such a high risk of death. His age, weight, God he’d just never survive. She’d have to bury him on this island and explain it all to people and no one would ever believe her. That she didn’t do everything she could to save this man. This wonderful, brilliant man. That she hadn’t been enough for him. She didn’t know that in that moment she was everything she ever could have been. He just didn’t have the words to tell her that as he’d fallen asleep.

* * *

When she woke up the next morning, he wasn’t laying with her. She sat up quickly and looked around. All she could see was him from behind as he leaned heavily against a tree that was about three feet away to take a piss. She breathed a sigh of relief and got up, gathering all of the stuff. She definitely had enough strength now to act as a crutch to lead him back.

“Guess you got to watch me first…huh?” He laughed weakly and finished up.

“If we make it back you can watch me do anything you want. I promise.” She told him as she approached and he was tucking his cock back into the loose pants she had managed to find him last night.

“Do not make that promise, I lived through the 70’s it take a lot to get me off now.” He smiled cheekily. She put her hand to his forehead, he was burning up.

“Yes I figured as much.” She got his arm around her and let him lean on her as she carried his weight and the stuff back to the house. Once they were there she got him into bed. He was shivering, nearly convulsing. He was in full crisis mode at that point. Doing what she did last night hadn’t made any difference. He was going into septic shock. She gathered all the blankets she could and covered him up. Even in this heat he was freezing and his temperature had to at least be at 103 if not 104. They didn’t have ice or even that cold of water to get him back down to normal. She moved every old fan she could find into that room and turned I on him. Then she got some purified water and had him take a few sips. After that point she began to dampen his pressure points with water. The breeze and the water should at least cool him a bit. She was panicked.

“Am I dying?” He asked.

“Well…”

“If you say no I’ll hit you again.” He muttered. She just had to laugh at that despite the horror of the situation so she did and sniffled a bit.

“Yeah you are.” She whispered.

“Leila you need to know that-”

“David you are dying not dead and not about to die. It’s a technical term you know like…bleeding. If you are about to die I’ll let you know and you can say all of that shit at that point. You have at least 48 more hours here. Maybe 72 if I can get you to eat.” She said sniffling a bit more and wiping her eyes quickly. “It will be okay, I’m a fucking heiress and you are God’s gift to everyone there are people looking for us that was a commercial flight there is no way--”

“It’s…okay Leila. You…you did everything for me. I’ve had the most fun I’ve had in god a decade or two.” He breathed.

“Stop it.”

“No just don’t be upset, if I die you should know I do not hold it against you. In fact someone should give you an award for not only taking out all of that puss but watching me puke and not ever saying anything distasteful about having to do it.” he said.

“I-”

“Yes yes you are a doctor it’s your job you’ve seen worse shut up. This isn’t that and you damn well know it.” He said, “You have been so strong. Far more strong than you should have to…taking care of an old man…”

“You aren’t that old.” She said.

“Old enough to be your father.”

“You were my daddy in the tub you know.” She whispered which made him smile. She smiled too even though the tears were falling freely by that point.

“I love you.” He muttered. She wasn’t sure if she heard that right and if she had she wasn’t sure she could say it back to him. He either didn’t mean it, or he didn’t mean it in that way. She was greatly flattered by the sentiment and even understood why he said it but… “Shhh I know you don’t want to say it back just accept it for what it is.”

“Thank you.” She said and rested her head near his. “If I can get you anything or do anything you just tell me I’m not going to leave your side now. I promise.”

“You may have to if…”

“It won’t happen I won’t let it.” She said and pressed her face down next to his and started to sob. She really shouldn’t have been like this with what was by all definitions a patient of hers but she couldn’t help it. He very slowly reached over and rubbed her back for a moment. She didn’t know what she’d do if she lost him and had to be alone out here. She didn’t even know what he’d want her to do or say. Bury him or try to preserve him until people got there. She had no idea. This had gone from heaven to hell so quickly her heart could barely take it.

* * *

Around lunch time she went to make herself some food mostly because he had been insisting so hard and he was right she needed to eat. She made him a few things as well but of course since he was in crisis he had no appetite. He did eat as much as he had energy to eat. It wasn’t a lot but it was better than nothing. She got him to drink a lot of water too. She kept cooling him removing the blankets and putting them back on. Eventually she soaked a blanket in water and covered him. With the fans on him it cooled him. He shivered and complained the entire time but he understood that she was trying to lower his body temperature so he never asked her to stop.

This carried on into the night, a huge task of forcing him to eat and drink. Regulating his body temperature. Getting something to pee in because he couldn’t get up and helping with that. He muttered something about her finally holding his cock to piss like she’d promised. How he still had a sense of humor in all of it she didn’t know. He was very calm, never panicked. He was stronger than her by that point and she didn’t know how he was doing it. After dinner and the sun had set she was about ready to collapse but his fever was down. He wasn’t burning hot to the touch any longer. It was still there but not nearly as bad. She crawled into bed next to him even though the blanket was still soaked.

“David I can’t-”

“Shh…sleep.” He whispered.

“I don’t-”

“You need to sleep. I promise when you wake up I will absolutely not be dead.” He said.

“You can’t--”

“Don’t tell me what I can’t do I’m David fucking ZIggy…fuck…Bowie.” He said then laughed very weakly. She just barely got out a laugh of her own before falling asleep. Part of her even wondered if that conversation really happened or she’d just imagined it.

* * *

The next thing she became aware of was the sun on her face. She gasped and her eyes opened. Her body was the most sore it had ever been and she didn’t want to move. Even still she forced herself to turn her head to look where David should have been. He wasn’t. Oh God. She sat up to see if he’d fallen onto the floor. He wasn’t there either. Then there was a loud roar and the house was shaking. The fuck was that? Hurricane? Earthquake? She got up and ran outside. It was a fucking helicopter and it was over the beach where they had left the clothes and the fire. Surely the fire was out by that point but the clothes and tent were there.

“DAVID!” She yelled and looked around. He wasn’t there, anywhere. Where did he go? How was this even possible? Fuck. She wanted to stay but she knew their best hope was running down to that beach and she ran. She ran as fast and hard as she could, completely barefoot through the jungle stumbling out on the other side with bleeding feet. In the sand, laying still was David. Next to signal fire he’d some how started. She screamed and stumbled over to him, the helicopter was hovering looking for a place to land. She collapsed by his side wondering how in holy hell he was able to do all of this and just at the right time that it saved their asses. She put her hand on his neck. There was a pulse. He moaned softly and turned his head.

“David?” She breathed. His face was pale and he looked like death warmed over.

“Promised I’d…be alive.” He whispered. She quickly pulled him close, he seemed light as a feather in that moment as she hugged him and the only point she let go was when they made her get on the chopper with him. Whatever had possessed him to get up and do that, when he had, made have very well saved her life. She just hoped that it was in enough time to save his.

* * *

They weren’t far from the states. They had landed on a tropical island off the flordia keys but unfortunately it was also a private one. She hadn’t been wrong about it being a resort at some point or an intended resort. The place had been abandoned due to real estate and money issues. David was rushed to a hospital as was she. She was in a lot better condition. Her cheek was fractured which she hadn’t even expected and her wrist was broken in two places. The splint had kept it held up so well that they’d only needed to do minor surgery.

Her recovery was a lot faster to and a few days later she was to be released. It was at that point she ordered them to move him to New York to a far better hospital at her own expense. It took a lot of bitching and moaning and prodding but it was done and it wasn’t cheap. Not that she gave a damn about the money but she was honestly shocked at how much they were charging. It seemed completely ridiculous seeing as how this move was the best thing for him. She already lived in Manhattan herself, so it would be very easy to go visit him and keep tabs on his health. He was in the ICU there and non responsive but still alive. If this wasn’t hard enough to deal with, the media was worse.

She was denying all interviews and even hired private security to keep them away from David. She wasn’t going to speak until he woke up and she had some idea of what he wanted. It wasn’t right to him to go blab or sell her story on TV. She hadn’t done any of this for fame or attention she’d done it because he was another human being and it was the right thing to do. Of course, due to the mouthy rescue team and other doctors it had been leaked that she had literally saved his life. The days they were gone the entire world had fucking panicked thinking they’d loss Bowie. Only a few people had panicked over her but she hadn’t expected much else.

A week passed and she was mostly at home. Her friend Rika had flown in from Japan to help her out and handle the media jackals. She was better at telling them to fuck off than she was. Every night there was insomnia as she couldn’t stop waiting and worrying about David. She was told she’d be contacted the moment anything changed but that moment wasn’t coming. No matter how much she visited or did or yelled at people to fix him.

By the second week of this she just wasn’t getting out of bed unless she had to. Rika was waiting on her hand and foot but that was going to be stopped in a day and she knew it. Rika was her friend and because of this she wasn’t going to let Leila lay in bed and wither away. She knew it was coming, that speech Rika was going to give her about not curling up and dying, like she had when Leila had lost her husband. She could see it, right there, on Rika’s lips. It was about to spill out every time she was brought food but she was holding back.

On the Monday that would mark the third week there was a knock on the door early in the morning. She groaned about it but then rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. She could hear footsteps downstairs and muted talking. The penthouse carried sound too much. She needed to buy a house. Maybe on a private island where there was nothing but the sound of crashing waves. That would be ironic. It wasn’t really that she missed it, what she missed was David and she wouldn’t allow herself to fully accept that.

“You have a visitor.” Rika said appearing in her doorway.

“I told you-”

“You want to take this one because if I tell them to fuck off you will straight up gut me with a kitchen knife.” Rika said then walked out with no further explanation. Thinking that by some miracle it was David and he’d just surprised her, she got out of bed and pulled on her ratty robe. He wouldn’t care how she looked he’d just want to see her. Except it wasn’t David there. It was Jon Bon Jovi.

“Holy mother…”

“I was told there was someone here that deserved a thank you. Actually I think his words were ‘giant fucking award’ but I don’t have one of those laying around.” He gave her a charming smile. Rika was just hanging back in the kitchen snickering. Leila stared at him. She hadn’t been lying when she told David that…she’d told David.

“H-Him?” She whispered.

“David Bowie.” Jon said, “I do have the right penthouse, don’t I?”

“Even if you didn’t she’d still fuck you.” Rika said.

“RIKA!” Leila snapped, “He’s married.”

“And?”

“Oh MY GOD am I ever sorry.” Leila apologized and came towards him quickly, “God I look like shit don’t I. Sorry I thought you were…wait, I still don’t understand how--”

“He regained consciousness earlier this morning.” Jon said, “Then he insisted no one say anything to you until he called his friend. A friend that knew a friend of mine and told me. This wouldn’t have ever really stayed quiet if he wasn’t Bowie, you know.”

“Yeah I’m aware of that.” She said, “But he’s awake?”

“Sure is. I talked to him on the phone, didn’t see him. Headed here. You saved his life” He pointed out. “The entire world, including me lost their minds.”

“Saw that…” She said her heart pounding. “He really knows how to thank someone.”

“Question about that. You were on an island with David Bowie and I was the musician you mentioned. Me?”

“Well yes but he asked.” She insisted, “Look I don’t have time for that right now I have to go see David.” She started to head for the stairs.

“So it’s cool if I just chill here then? It was a long trip from New Jersey.” He said.

“No it fucking wasn’t.” She called back.

“Okay fair enough but I just thought this would take longer.” He called up the stairs. She laughed and ignored him as she went to go get cleaned up to see David. She knew how she was being in the moment but he didn’t sound annoyed, more like he was joking around with her. Rika would surely keep him company and figure out what to do with him as she got dressed and they could finish up once that was over but she had to get out of there if David was awake. Her first priority was him. She could be a fan girl to Jon in about an hour or so.


	8. Paradise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of part one it will probably be continued in a part two if people show interest if not this is what you get but I do have an idea to continue it so let me know.

Leila went to the hospital alone. As much as she wanted to flip out over the fact that Bon Jovi was in her apartment she wanted to see David more. It was weird, because she’d always wanted to meet Jon. She also had every ability since she had money. She could have hired him for a private concert several times over had she wanted and never had. Many times she wondered why she hadn’t made it happen. Something about ‘never meeting your heroes’ kept her from doing it. David had sent him to her as thanks. She wasn’t sure if it was more of a cute act or a serious one. The only way to know was to ask him herself and thank God he was awake.

After getting past the private security group, since she’d hired them it was easy, she entered David’s room. He wasn’t in bed but he was slowly making his way out of the bathroom in a hospital gown with a nurse and hooked up to an IV. Leila nearly fainted when she saw him up on his feet. That mobile. It was such a good sign. It was around lunch by the time she’d gotten there so quite a few hours had seemed to have passed between when he woke up and when Jon had gotten to her penthouse. He looked at her and hurried back to the bed with the nurse trying to yell at him to slow down. Of course he didn’t listen and got into the bed covering up with the blankets quickly. He was probably trying to avoid her seeing how skinny he was. Which she expected given the fact that he had sepsis and nearly died. She walked over to the bed and pulled him into a tight hug.

“Thought sending that Bon Jovi guy to you would distract you for at least a day.” He said. She laughed and pressed her face into his neck as tears of joy fell. She thought she’d never hear his voice again. At least not like this. He was still a bit weak but he was there.

“You thought wrong.” She sniffled and pulled back to look at him, “You look great.”

“I absolutely do not.” He chuckled, “But thanks for pretending.”

“Sorry, I didn’t think telling you that you look like a skeleton would be helpful to your recovery.” She said and stroked his cheek before pulling up a chair to sit next to his bed. The nurse walked out of there and the door shut. She saw two security guys on the outside move to stand in front of the window there so no one could pop up and take a picture through it.

“Maybe it could be my new persona.” He said.

“Huh, could work.” She said and took his hand, “But I’d rather you gain weight before you decide that.”

“I agree.” He said, “They won’t give me any good food here you know.”

“I know.” She said, “But you were in a coma for nearly three weeks, you can’t just have a steak right away.”

“I’d risk it.”

“I won’t let you, neither will they.” She smiled, “David, what you did for me was so-”

“You saved my life. I know it, the entire world knows it, it’s on the news. Curiously, every news station says you cannot be reached for comment or have declined to comment.” He said, “Why is that?”

“Didn’t think it was right to get attention on your behalf or tell anyone what happened there between us.” She said, “At least not without talking to you first. Half of it is your story too and you have more of a public image than I do.”

“An image that isn’t going to be shaken by anything you say.”

“Really? I saw you puke, and you hit me, and you did drugs…”

“Okay okay, point taken.” He laughed. It wasn’t that she would tell anyone that, especially not publicly, but at least now he understood why she had waited for him to wake up.

“What made you go to the beach that night?” She asked, “How did you…I mean…it probably saved us.”

“Well,” He said and gave her hand a light squeeze, “I woke in the middle of the night you were asleep. I could hear engines, somewhere. I couldn’t wake you either but I also didn’t want to. You had worked so hard to get my fever down and help me I thought you needed to sleep. Something in me it said, if I went back to sleep I wasn’t going to wake up. Probably an irrational thought but it was too nagging. I didn’t want to get up. I was so tired, I was in a lot of pain but the engines they were so close. I couldn’t tell if it was a plane or a helicopter or even a boat. I knew, that help was close. I knew I had to do something. I decided right then and there, that I would use every last bit of energy I had to save you...save us maybe. I didn’t think I’d live but it was what I could do for you in the moment.”

She felt tears burning at her eyes as he spoke. Even though it had been three weeks, nearly, she did remember everything very well. Especially that night. How terrified she’d been that he was going to die right there next to her. That she’d never speak to him again. That she’d fallen asleep at the wrong time and she’d screwed everything up. Maybe there would have been more she could have done to save him. When she’d woken up without him there the panic had been so high. Her heart had been twisted but she knew that sitting alone and ignoring the sounds she heard would be so counter productive to both of their survival she’d gotten up. It had been a nightmare until she reached the shore and confirmed he was alive. His body in the sand had scared her most of all. Thinking in those brief moments he had died. She’s remembered that most of all. Even though it was only seconds that type of terror slowed time down to a crawl. Seconds feeling like minutes. Minutes feeling like hours. Her soul being ripped from her chest not knowing what she’d put her hands on when she finally got to his body.

“I made myself drink some water, eat a few things. It woke me up a bit. I was going as fast as I could but it didn’t seem fast enough. I didn’t think I’d get out there in time it was so far. I just kept telling myself if I stopped moving I’d die and that would mean that you would die. Obviously now I realize I was fevered and delusional as you could have survived your entire life there alone but I didn’t want that for you. I wanted you to get back. I got to the beach and started a fire, don’t ask me how because I’m still not sure. Then I started to throw anything onto it that would make black smoke or a large flame or both. The sun started to rise over the horizon and I knew at that point it would be seen. In the distance the little black speck that was a helicopter it started to get bigger and bigger and…I just let myself go. I said, I did what I could do and let things play out as they may I had nothing left in me I just shut down and made peace with the last thing I could. Saving your life as you’d tried to save mine.”

“I did save yours.”

“I didn’t know that to be true at the time.” He said. “In the moment I…I didn’t blame you but I thought it was the end. Trust me, when I woke up and it wasn’t I was elated. I asked about you and they told me. They told me everything, Leila. Everything you did, with as little as you had there, it saved my life. You’re like an angel.”

“Not as much as you.” She smiled and wiped the tears from her face quickly.

“Whatever statement you want to make whatever show you want to go on, whoever you want to tell, it’s more your story than mine. You’re the hero this time.” He said and tugged her in a bit closer. She leaned in and kissed his cheek softly. She remembered that night when he had said he loved her, that she didn’t have to say it back that she should just take it as it was and accept it. It was in that moment that she could feel it. It basically radiated off of him and soaked into her. She felt it in her bones as well. Whatever had happened there, it had changed her and it had changed him as well.

“I don’t want to do it alone.” She said, “So I guess they are just going to have to wait, aren’t they?” She smiled.

“Perhaps. Or maybe we’ll never say anything at all.” He smiled. She honestly would be okay with that, he wanted to hand her the lead on this but she didn’t want to take it. He didn’t want to really take it either so for now it would sit in limbo until both of them were ready to decide what the next step was going to be.

* * *

It was a few months later when David was fully recovered. He’d gained a lot of weight back. More than he had on him before they’d landed on that island but definitely nowhere near fat. He looked great. She saw him a lot for many different reasons. It took a bit of sneaking around because the paparazzi were still after them for a story. So was the news. His online fans on his message boards wanted to know as well. She didn’t blame him for staying quiet and they rarely even talked about their time on the island anyway. They got to know each other as friends and as two people who had  met under the weirdest of circumstances ever. She’d also gotten to have lunch a few times with Bon Jovi and organized a charity event with him as a performer that had gone over very well.

Around the six month mark, they decided they were going to do a news piece about it together. Her wrist was no longer in a cast and he no longer looked like death warmed over so it was a good time to come forward and explain to the world what had happened. Especially since none of the attention was dying down as they’d hoped. He was too big of a celebrity for anyone to ever stop being curious about what had happened during the time the world believed him to be dead, even if it was only for about a week.

The 60 Minutes segment was to feature both of them. Her telling her version of events and him telling his. Then it would converge in a ‘reunion’. Leila had no idea how the press hadn’t realized she’d been seeing him regularly for the past six months but David and her agreed to play along. He told her that she should just tell any story she wanted as long and he corroborate it. As such, she wrote out her story so he could see what she intended to say and could prepare for the documentary to film for them. Leila went into it blind, at least in the way that she had no clue how David was going to respond he insisted that it be a surprise because it would be more fun that way.

* * *

“I boarded the plane having no idea that my life was about to change drastically.” Leila started off. The reporter who she really should have known about or recognized sitting across from her nodding along to her voice. “I took a sleeping pill as usual because I hate long flights and passed out. The next thing I knew I’m in the water and there’s just flaming wreckage all around me. I knew that the important thing was to get out of the freezing water and so I looked around for a raft or something, planes all have them. I was very lucky to find one. Once it was inflated I climbed in my wrist was broken. I didn’t think anyone was alive, honestly. I could see bodies and body parts but nothing moving. Instead of allowing myself to panic I just started to gather anything that was floating or I could see that might be useful. Then David just kind of climbed into my boat.”

* * *

“She’s being modest she pulled me into the boat.” David laughed. In his segment, as they filmed, they were showing him clips of what she said was the story. Probably in an attempt to create some sort of magic TV moment where he got upset with something she said but they had no idea that he already knew what she was going to say. “She also pulled that hunk of metal out of my side, sealed me up, I was being quite a diva about it, you know, but she just patched me right up.”

* * *

“When the sun came over the horizon, we kind of started to just drift. Unsure what to do. I passed out from exhaustion and pain. He woke me up a bit later, I think he’d been trying to direct the raft but there was land in the distance. We both started to paddle towards the island because of the current it was important that we not get off course. That may have been the only land for miles.” She said.

* * *

“Actually she got out of the raft, dove right in and started to push the whole thing. Some may claim that was easy because we were floating in water but with all the crap she’d also dragged into the raft all by herself it was not light. Neither was I.” David grinned at the reporter. “Really good swimmer that one.”

* * *

“Once we got on the shore we started to unpack everything and sort through it. Found a tent and some fishing gear. Lots of food. There were medications in there as well which I was told saved him. Kept the infection at bay and continued to work. Had they not already been in his system he would have probably…not made it through those first forty-eight hours after we were rescued, even though they had him on IV antibiotics at that point.” Leila said, “Anyway we stayed in a tent the first night and the next day I started to explore the place.”

* * *

“She found a house you know, a huge house. It was abandoned looked like some kind of relic from the 60’s or 70’s.” David explained in his part of the segment. “It was definitely a lifesaver. She got everything working there too. The place, as I was told, was originally going to be some sort of self sustaining island resort but the funding ran out. Projects like that sometimes do. However the generators around the place were wind powered so she just cut the vines and things from them and they started to go again. By the time we got all the stuff moved back to the house, from the beach, it had built up enough energy to power a few things in there. By the next morning it was even better. She fixed everything, I mean everything. Got us plumbing too. The toilet was absolute shit though but it was a toilet.”

* * *

“He got really sick. The infection was spreading I knew that.” Leila said, “I had to do something but there wasn’t much I could do.”

* * *

The news segment then went on to explain the tools Leila had used to attempt to save David’s life. Of course people had been back there to investigate since then. The island was known because it was the island where they had been found. People wanted to see it. There was a lot of problems with the location being published and traffic to the place which was still private property despite the development being stopped. The owner of the island ended up hiring private security to patrol and the only people allowed on there were authorized film crews and other media. Not all of them got on there either. The owner was an old guy and kind of an asshole about letting people film his failed realty endeavor.

The segment then explained what was happening to David’s body in a lot of graphic detail. Explained what sepsis and septic shock were. A nice computer rendering of a replica male body and the wound on his side. Nothing ever went into detail on her even though it was mentioned that her wrist was broken and she had fractured her cheek. There were now pins in her wrist but David had assisted in setting the bone and splinting it which had greatly helped them survive on that island. Upon watching the segment back (before airing) Leila didn’t decide to push too much about what had really happened with that because she didn’t want to take anything away from David even though through his whole segment he was trying to make her sound like some kind of angel that fell from heaven.

* * *

After both segments were filmed and both stories were told (and the two of them were able to approve that) there was to be a reunion. They were going to meet on that same island again. Leila didn’t ask how the hell any one got permission to do that but clearly they had because for them it wouldn’t be considered trespassing. Leila wasn’t exactly sure she wanted to get on a plane ever again but David was insistent she come. He said that if he was going to do it, and he’d had it worse, she could suck it up and make it to the island as well. He also cut off contact with her the week before because he said he wanted the reunion to be ‘authentic’. It annoyed her more than she thought, not being able to see him even if it was just for a week. Maybe she was more in love with him than she’d thought. This entire time it had been friendly, not even really dating. Hanging out and getting to know each other but not what she’d call some sort of seduction or romance. Knowing what she did know as a psychiatrist, he could have been seeing it an entirely different way but she’d never gotten the impression he was trying to seduce her or wine and dine her either. Yet, that week without him, no phone calls or emails or meet ups for coffee she felt lost. Nearly destroyed.

The pain of what seemed like a loss, was ultimately what got her on a plane again. Not a commercial flight. She’d insisted that she would take her company jet and that Rika got to come with her. She also overly drugged herself to do it. Mostly out of the idea that if the plane crashed a second time then she could survive and the events would repeat, it would just be her and Rika on the island instead of her and David. Of course, since plane crashes were very rare, everything worked out as planned. They made it to Florida just fine and that’s where a boat was chartered to bring Leila and Rika to the private island. She was absolutely not getting on a helicopter and there was no ifs, ands, or buts. The island wasn’t far out and it was a large private yacht so it wasn’t terrible. The film crew wanted the ratings and reunion of this so badly they were willing to work with what she would do and what David would do. Leila honestly had no idea how he intended to get to the island. Part of her felt that even though he said plane, he probably took a boat all the way from the New York coast down here. It wasn’t like he didn’t also have the money to travel the way he wanted.

“There are film crews on the shore.” Rika said, looking through the binoculars she had, “Looks like they are waiting to greet you. Don’t see Ziggy though.”

“Don’t call him that when you meet him.” Leila said.

“I don’t see why I didn’t get to meet him before this.” She said and set down the binoculars.

“Because you have a big mouth and the press would have heard you talking to him eight miles away.” Leila pointed out and sipped her coffee as she looked over the front of the boat.

“Very funny.” Rika said and stuck her tongue out. “You excited to see him?”

“Yeah, more than I thought I’d be honestly.”

“That’s because you are in love.”

“Oh come on don’t be an idiot.”

“Seriously?” Rika asked, “This is the same shit that happened with Mark. You two were ‘just friends’ for six months remember? You insisted that. Over and over and over. Then suddenly you two are engaged and practically attached to each other.”

“Well this is-”

“Different how?” Rika cut her off knowing she was going to try to deny it.

“Shut up or you are going overboard.”

“I can swim.” She grinned and lit up a cigarette. “If you two get married, you owe me 100 bucks.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m betting that’s where all of this is leading to. Even if it takes another five years for you to stop being stubborn.” She said.

“Oh whatever. We are just friends, Rika.” Leila said firmly. She knew it wasn’t true though. Not one word of it. Mark had been her soul mate, or so she’d believed. She didn’t like to think of what happened to him or with that. It had been so long ago that it was a distant memory. Part of her believed that falling in love again would be betraying him but he wasn’t there. He was dead now and even as much as she accepted that, she didn’t. Mark would want her to be happy, no matter what. That was why in the end he’d protected her and set everything up so nothing that he had done could harm her or destroy her life. It was his final act of love just as David’s final act had been to attempt to save her as well.

When the boat docked on some area of the island she was sure she’d never seen, there were two cameras filming her walk off onto the dock with Rika. They had a few bags with them, of course, since it took a full night to get there by boat and had needed to bring things to change into. Leila wasn’t too concerned with how she looked on the news but she’d brought a few different outfits just in case they were going to nag her. Her intent was to wear a business suit but the news people had told her casual or beachwear. She took that to mean a bikini, because she wasn’t stupid and realized that she was what was considered ‘sexy’ and the news was probably trying to turn this into some kind of love story. Since David wouldn’t talk to her now, she had do decided what he probably would want for his image and her decision had landed on not allowing them to speak for him in such a manner with their dumb editing tactics. At least she knew they’d already done a good job on the first part of the news segments. One of the reporters met her at the end of the dock.

“Alright, we’ll be headed back that way.” She said and motioned to a golf cart that was waiting for them. “Is this…Ms. Takashi?”

“Yup.” Rika said, “You can just call me Rika.”

“She’s the CEO of your company, right?”

“Yeah.” Leila said.

“Can we have a word with her about what that was like when you went missing.”

“A word? You might want to dedicate an hour of filming with how much she’s gonna talk.” Leila said.

“Ha ha bitch.”

“Okay we’ll have to cut that.” The reporter said, and Leila realized they were still filming all of this. Probably wanted B-roll for later when they edited it all together. Shots of them arriving and such. Leila really should have known this woman’s name too but she didn’t so she was just going to play along like she remembered until someone else said it and her memory was jogged. The person who had interviewed her in her penthouse was a guy, this was a new one. She wondered where he was and why he wasn’t finishing the segment. Since this piece was supposed to take up the entire hour instead of just one portion of it, maybe it was going to be a group effort. She really didn’t intend to watch it when it aired unless David insisted on it. She would just watch the final copy that was going to be sent to her.

They got in the golf cart together and headed out over a…newly paved road? Well, not a road exactly. It was really just wide enough for a golf cart to ride on. It was also definitely new. There were lights every so often on either side. They weren’t lit now but it was clear that come night they would illuminate and show the way. That was interesting. Then again, this island had gotten a lot of attention since their return. It was possible that the original owner had reason to invest now. He’d make a bundle on the private island where David Bowie had crashed for a week and managed to survive. There would be plenty of people willing to pay for some kind of experience like that. It somewhat annoyed her that someone would try to profit from a period of her life that had been so horrible but whatever. She could go home after this and never come back.

It was only a few minutes later when they arrived at the house where she’d saved David’s life. It had been completely repaired. All of it. Painted, patched, and decorated. Except, it was all the same. It was more that all of the stuff they had found there, it had either been cleaned or exact replicas of those relics had been put in their place. It was like stepping into a time machine and going back, not only to their time on the island there but to the actual 1960’s like the resort house had meant to be back in it’s original inception. There were gardens that had been planted and a Jacuzzi out front as well but one straight out of the sixties. At least in style. She laughed softly, not realizing there were guys here already filming. She stood up out of the golf cart and Rika followed.

“The fuck is this?” Rika asked.

“We are going to have to ask you to watch your language this is for network TV.”

“Oh whatever bitch.”

“This is how you allow your CEO to talk to people?” The reported asked as if she expected to reign Rika in and get her to cooperate.

“Alright do me a favor and google what our profit margin for last year was. After that, ask yourself if she’s on the clock at our headquarters and if she really owes you a damn thing.” Leila said. This woman was being a bitch. Neither Rika or her were on any sort of job and this was shocking. Though Leila’s language was far more reserved she pretty much expected Rika’s reaction and didn’t care what it looked like. They weren’t going to be able to air it on TV either. Besides, Rika already had a reputation and it had never harmed their company. Leila wasn’t overly concerned that she was going to suddenly lose DTI or its profits because Rika was kind of rude and cussed a lot when she wasn’t at work. The reporter glared at her then motioned for Leila to walk towards the door. She didn’t know what kind of trick this was but she did it anyway. It was more than likely an elaborate set up for her to see David again and that’s exactly what she wanted in the moment. Before she could reach for the handle on the door it opened. Inside, once again, the place was renovated but looked like stepping back in time. A picture of how it was meant to have looked when she’d spent time there. It was far more beautiful now than it had been back then. She smiled brightly and David came out of the bedroom with a bottle of champagne in one hand, two glasses in the other.

“David…” She breathed. He was dressed in casual island attire. A flowing white shirt and khaki pants. His hair still long and shaggy as it had been when she last saw him but swept back out of his face. He also may have been wearing eyeliner. Not that she was complaining but she hadn’t seen him do any of that in the past six months either.

“There was this huge problem I wasn’t sure what you’d like better, for me to restore this place to it’s original state or to modernize it so-”

“You did this?” Leila asked.

“I bought the island.” He said.

“You did what?”

“Holy shit…” Rika laughed then she muttered something in Japanese which was basically a taunt about how the two of them were going to get married. Leila eyed her and shoved her playfully, kind of, a bit harder than that. Rika stumbled and hit the wall but she was still laughing.

“This is your friend then?” David asked, “The one you always complain about?”

“Hey!” Rika said.

“He’s joking, kind of.” Leila said.

“Well I don’t really give a crap, David Bowie was talking about me and that’s good enough.” Rika said walking past them and heading more into the place to look around. “I take it this is not how things looked when you originally found it?”

“No shit.” Both David and Leila said at the same time and then laughed. He walked to the kitchen counter and set the glasses down. Then he opened the champagne and poured them each a glass. Leila grabbed one of them.

“I really do like it, it’s beautiful. Guess I’m surprised that you like it, is all.” Leila said, “Seems you’d want something more modern, personally.”

“Hmmm? Yes well this is only the guest house.” he said.

“Are you fucking kidding?”

“Not at all.” He said, “The main house, well they haven’t completed all the construction on that but you’ll see it later.” She was absolutely blown away by all of this but why had he done it? Did he intend to move here permanently? He must if he was pouring so much money into it. She’d never asked him how much he had or what he was worth it wasn’t important to her but she was realizing that however he’d invested his money over the years, he’d done it very wisely because otherwise he’d never been able to afford all of this.

“You’re going to move here then?” Leila asked.

“For a while. Don’t worry I still have my place in Manhattan I own it and I’m not intending to sell that either. I was just thinking that we’d want a nice place, alone, the two of us. The whole world may know where it is but it’s not easy to get to and-”

“Us…David I’m not exactly…” He didn’t allow her to finish because he held up his hand which stopped her then in one fluid motion as if he was pulling the ring out of thin air he just had it and boy was it a nice one. Nothing gawdy or obnoxious just very nice. Small diamond with a ruby on either side. Something elegant that could also be worn all the time and not draw too much attention. Her heart leaped into her throat. He got down on one knee.

“Leila…”

“Oh God you don’t even have to say it.” She cried and got down with him tackling him into a hug. They both ended up on the floor and in a passionate kiss his arms wrapping around her tightly. Surely this looked insane to the crew who was filming because they had been under the impression that the two of them had barely even talked after the rescue. Leila was shocked, absolutely shocked that he’d knowingly let these people film what was to become such an iconic moment later but the idea that he didn’t care who knew. That it was no longer a secret. That she didn’t have to sneak around and hide and tell no one about them. It melted her entirely. As much as she was a private person she hated hiding her love for him. Hated staying in the shadows and arranging secret rendezvous. It was like he hadn’t wanted anyone to find out, she’d nearly been offended. It was perhaps why she kept burying her feelings and justifying everything as a friendship instead of dating. “I love you, David…I love you more than you’d ever know.” She whispered looking up at him from the floor.

“Good because if this hadn’t worked I would have had to ask her and she seems kind of high maintenance.” David said, motioning to Rika.

“Hey!” Rika said, “Also you owe me 100 dollars.”

“Like you didn’t know he was going to do this.”

“I didn’t! I never met him before now, remember?” Rika said, “Besides I gave it a five year window of time I was just early so pay up.”

“What?” David laughed. Leila reached up and wiped a tear from his face.

“She was joking around about me being in love but being in denial.”

“Oh you were in a lot of denial.” He said and got up, pulling her to her feet with him. He took her hand and slipped the ring on to it.

“Yeah so were….”

“Me? I was? I told you at that damn waterfall I loved you. Just had to wait for you to catch up.” He grinned cheekily. She smiled at him and leaned in to kiss him again.

“Well, I’m there. Sorry it took so long.”

“I would have waited forever.” He whispered and hugged her tightly. She hugged him too, pressing her face into his shoulder. For the first time, in a long time, she truly felt at home in the arms of a man she’d fallen entirely in love with. The week of hell on earth had ended in paradise and she was not complaining. Not at all.


End file.
